Hip hop has come a long way from Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, with a culture and influence that have traveled as far as Asia. It's no surprise, then, that hip hop has made its way to Stratford-Upon-Avon in this cleverly stylized ad-rap-tation of Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing." From the masterminds behind "Bomb-itty of Errors" comes "Funk It Up About Nothin'." The Q Brothers, Jeffrey and Gregory Qaiyum, have given Shakespeare's classic comedy an extreme makeover, converting it into an amply blinged powerhouse performance with six MCs and a live DJ scratchin' beats throughout.
"Funk It Up" takes many liberties in its adaptation, interspersing liberal doses of pop culture references (with homages to "Grease," John Wayne and "Shaft") and turning Don Pedro (Postell Pringle) and his crew, Claudio (Jackson Doran) and Benedick (JQ), into rap stars back from a tour, which gives the story a contemporary twist but doesn't detract from the play's overall theme-izzles. In fact, the best change occurs with Hero (Elizabeth Ledo), who ceases to be a sniveling "Hills" character and becomes a self-sufficient "bad girl" who doesn't take Claudio back immediately after he's been made a tool twice by John the Bastard (GQ) and calls her a back-stabbing whore. Another change comes from Dingleberry, nee Dogberry, the dopey watchguard of yore, who loses his buffoonery in this version of the story to become a long-haired Flavor Flav-type pimp with two Charlie's Angels and a nightstick-lovin' cop for sidekicks.
The rap-narrative format tends to leave little room for the more tender moments, especially between Beatrice (Ericka Ratcliff) and Benedick, though their verbal smackdowns comprise the best rhymes of the performance. Some of the sincerity is lost in the quippiness and the references to Spam, but that does little to detract from the show's overall entertainment value. The energy from the verbally athletic cast, who all play multiple parts, and the persistent, undeniable beat makes it nearly impossible to walk away without a head-nodding, "Funk, funk, funk...funk it up" trailing one's lips.
Reviewed by Centerstage!
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