Skullduggery: The Musical Prequel to Hamlet

Reviewed by Terry Morgan
Sacred Fools Theater
Through November 5th

The most painful duty of a critic is watching a group of very talented people knock themselves out in support of a project that simply doesn’t work. One has some idea of the level of effort that goes into such an ambitious endeavor, and it’s no fun to proclaim the end result stillborn. Unfortunately, Michael Shaw Fisher’s Skullduggery: The Musical Prequel to Hamlet is such a project, an overstuffed show that doesn’t know what it wants to be. The production at Sacred Fools Theater strains admirably to bring it to life but ultimately can’t get past the flawed material itself.

Thirty years before the events of Hamlet, brothers Claudius (John Bobek) and Hamlet Sr. (David Haverty) are already in conflict with each other. Claudius is a bookish peacenik, while Hamlet Sr. is a warrior like his father. Claudius and Gertrude (Leigh Wulff) are in love, but Hamlet Sr. makes her his wife and queen after his father dies mysteriously in combat. When court jester Yorick (Brendan Hunt) starts a “drunken revolution” against Hamlet Sr., Claudius joins it, intending to ultimately kill his brother.

Bobek does what he can with the role of Claudius, a character fashioned as an even more passive version of Hamlet — but he fails to make much of an impact, despite a pleasant singing voice in songs such as “Outside Elsinor.” Haverty is a properly gruff Hamlet Sr., but Wulff comes off as a somewhat bland Gertrude. Hunt steals the show with a comically inspired take on Yorick, sliding in and out of an inebriated state at will. Rebecca Larsen is tartly amusing as Berta, and Alyssa Rupert is charming as a daring Ophelia.

Director Scott Leggett stages the action with finesse, but at two hours and forty-five minutes, the show still feels long. If the play is the thing, well, unfortunately it’s also the problem with this production. Fisher can’t be faulted for ambition, but in trying to make the piece a serious love story, a Shakespeare comedy and a musical, he’s created something so diffuse that it succeeds as none of the three. The piece works best in its comedic moments, but these are buried under a surfeit of Fisher’s forgettable songs. The score is also strange — a marimba-based creation that feels musically thin. Mr. Fisher clearly has talent, but this play doesn’t show off his skills to best effect.   

Sacred Fools Theater, 1076 Lillian Way, Los Angeles; Fri.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 3 p.m.; through Nov. 5. www.sacredfools.org. Running time: 2 hours and 45 minutes with an intermission.