A larger-than-life story like Alexandre Dumas’s classic adventure needs room for swords to clash, dastardly villains to plot and heroes to save the day. Movie adaptations of “The Three Musketeers” benefit from expansive locations and sets, along with the illusion provided by camera angles. Ellen Geer’s theatrical adaptation benefits from the outdoor amphitheatre space of the Theatricum Botanicum in Topanga Canyon. As with their signature production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” The Three Musketeers is ideally suited to an open-air venue that ranks as one of L.A.’s most charming. Ms. Geer, who also directs, and the bounding, mastication-prone cast, takes full advantage of the Theatricum to provide yet another immersive experience, the real kind of 3-D that makes one wonder what the fuss with James Cameron’s “Avatar” was all about.
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Kelly C. Henton, Melora Marshall and Jim LeFave
Our story begins with young D’Artagnan, an irrepressible and rakish young buck performed with gusto by Jackson McCord Thompson. Hailing from Gascony, the impoverished but ambitious youth hopes to join the King’s Musketeers only to entangle himself in duels with those famous three swashbuckling friends and get further mixed up in the machinations of Cardinal Richelieu (William Dennis Hunt, who may flub the occasional line but still manages to be quietly unnerving) and the venomous MiLady (Abby Craden, who does much heaving on the stage). There’s a lot of plot in Dumas’s book, and despite the necessary roughness that comes from knitting as much as is sensibly possible into a play, Ms. Geer succeeds in stitching a coherent romance together. Insofar as theatre can be feel-good popcorn theatre, with generous servings of thrilling melodrama, this version of The Three Musketeers is it.
The quibble, other than seeing themes and developments glossed over to keep the momentum going, lies in this: for all that d’Artagnan is the main protagonist, the presence of the energetic Athos, Porthos and Aramis (played respectively by Jim LeFave, Kelly C. Henton and, most enjoyably, Melora Marshall) is rather on the light side. A casualty is that “all for one and one for all” spirit, which doesn’t disappear so much as sit quietly on the sidelines except for a few, exuberant moments. Amidst all the Cardinal’s plotting and Lady DeWinter’s ambitious thirst for power and fortune, rooted in a lurid secret involving one of the musketeers, the evolving camaraderie between d’Artagnan and the Musketeers ends up more assumption than viscera. But the good thing about quibbles is that, while troublesome, they don’t detract from the quick pace of a rollicking adventure brimming with political intrigue, murder, love, and friendship.
The Three Musketeers. By Alexandre Dumas. Written for the stage and directed by Ellen Geer. Starring Jackson McCord Thompson, Jim LeFave, Kelly C. Henton, Melora Marshall, Abby Craden, Jeff Wiesen, Willow Geer, and William Dennis Hunt. On stage at the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum on select Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays until Oct. 10. Visit www.theatricum.com for schedules, tickets, and more information.
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