THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR (PORTERS OF HELLSGATE): 50% – BITTER

Dana DeRuyck, left, Dylan Vigus and Kate O’Toole in “The Merry Wives of Windsor” at the Whitmore Lindley. Credit: Greg Eident.

BITTER
And to play “Merry Wives” with so much extraneous business, winking self-delight and thunderous volume is, alas, to jettison the humor of it. My affection for this risk-taking troupe notwithstanding, I cannot tell what the Dickens they were thinking.
David C. Nichols – LA Times

SWEET
The Merry Wives of Windsor is a fast, fun farce of comedy energy!
Lorenzo Marchessi – NoHoArtsDistrict

SWEET
The Merry Wives Of Windsor makes it fourteen* and counting, and as in productions past, The Porters have once again come up with an original take on a Shakespeare standard and done so with considerable skill and panache.
Steven Stanley – StageSceneLA

SWEET
How do I compare this play to a summer day? Great laughter is a-plenty in this outstanding production, perhaps their best yet. The performances highlighted a story of love and deception, at Sir John Falstaff’s expense.
M. Jarett Christensen – Tolucan Times

BITTER
But beyond that, the acting in this latest Merry Wives was annoyingly unrestrained – a whole lot of indicatin’ was goin’ on.
Don Shirley – LA Stage Watch

BITTER
Such velocity combined with zany, over-the-top acting choices unfortunately undermines the rhythm and poetry of the language, glossing over puns and turns of phrase, obfuscating plot and story and confusing a number of audience members.
Mayank Keshaviah – LA Weekly

THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR
The Porters of Hellsgate
Whitmore Theatre
11006 Magnolia Blvd., N. Hollywood
8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays; Ends July 22, 2012
Tickets: $20; (818) 325-2055
Running time: 2 hours