The Cast Photo by Evelyn Huynh

Los Altos Stage Company is presenting a production of that version of Twelfth Night set in a seaside Illyria where cultures, races, gender expressions, and ages of citizens are as wide-ranging as the music filling its center square. The era could be almost anyone's guess since there are hints of several decades in both costumes and the music itself. A cast of seventeen bring great enthusiasm and lots of tomfoolery in a production that overall amuses and entertains if not always completely hitting the mark.

After a New Orleans style funeral march amidst thunder and rain in which a trio of instruments lead in Countess Olivia–the mourning sister of a deceased brother–the mood quickly shifts to a pumped-up, stage-filling number, "Play On," in which key characters are introduced. A distraught young girl named Viola arrives looking for her twin brother Sebastian after the two were separated in a wreck at sea. The lovesick Duke Orsino bemoans that his love for Olivia is going nowhere. Advice on the street for a position-seeking Viola is that Orsino is her best bet, but he only hires men, so she decides it is time to tuck her curls under a hat and disguise herself as a young man named Cesario. (After all, this is a Shakespeare comedy where twins are of course separated, genders are to be switched for hiding's sake, and romantic chaos of mix-ups is ready to explode.)

To add to the fun and frolic, we get first glimpses in this opening number of Shakespeare's lower ranks of society who always are the source of much of the Bard's silliness, bad puns, and bawdy humor. There is the town's feisty fool full of song and tapping toes named, appropriately, Feste (Melissa Mei Jones); Olivia's often tipsy and tricking uncle, Sir Toby (Ray D'Ambrosio); and the witless, awkward-mannered visitor Sir Andrew (Dan C.) with vain hopes to marry the Countess. With much ado, everyone joyfully sings, "Clap your hands, start to sway til your worries melt away ... Play on, play on."

Orsino immediately welcomes Cesario into his household and quickly solicits the youth to woo on his behalf the not-at-all-interested Olivia, with Joe Cloward now singing in compelling vocals to his new hire, "I want you, I need you to tell her I'm her man." But Cesario–being actually of course single girl, Viola–suffers love-at-first-sight for the handsome Duke, with Kristy Aquino echoing Orsino's pleas with those of her own heart, convincingly singing out of his ear's range, "I want to, I need to ... tell you how I feel." But now being Cesario, Viola ends by intoning the sad notes of "I can never tell you how I feel."

Of course, as soon as the cute, boyish messenger starts singing to Olivia the words Orsino cannot himself deliver ("I would write you songs of answered love ... If you were my beloved"), Olivia (Naomi Murray) cannot help but sing in a strong and stirring voice, "Oh I feel a fever rise in my eyes," as she gazes on the supposed Cesario with increasing and erotic desire. Soon, the Shakespearean love triangle is complete as these three sing with voices dripping with desire in an overlapping soliloquy, "I would be complete if you were my beloved."

In the meantime, mischief is brewing at the local pub. A call for a toast and a song by Sir Toby to Feste begins a series of heartily sung insults of "You're the Worst" that begin to spread like wildfire, with more passersby becoming the latest brunt of the pun-packed jabbing. Soon, a hoard of jolly jokesters are singing, "Good friends have X-ray vision, they see through the mask you wear ... Good friends laugh in derision to show you they care."

Their final target–Olivia's very straight-laced and pompous assistant, Malvolio–becomes more than just a quick focus for foolery. Toby garners a group of fellow tricksters, including another employee of Olivia, Maria (Patty Reinhart), to create a plot to make the vain Malvolio believe he has received a letter of wooing from Olivia, in which she supposedly implores him to approach her in yellow, gartered stockings with the biggest smile possible. Both are, of course, just the things Olivia hates most.

The resulting scene of Malvolio making a total fool of himself and the subsequent miseries when he finds himself locked maliciously in the dark of a corner telephone booth provide Sarah Thermond an opportunity to rise as the surprise star of the evening even in a somewhat more minor role. With vocals that soar with power and punch and an impressive clarity of tone, her Malvolio draws much laughter and appreciation for sung talent.

Love's twists and turns multiply even more when Olivia's twin brother Sebastian (Rachel Rivera) arrives with the young man who pulled him out of the ocean, Antonio (Ralph Shehayed)–a savior who risks his own neck to return to a town where he risks arrest in order to be near a rescued Sebastian. With starry, puppy eyes, Antonio sings to an unsuspecting (and uninterested) Sebastian, "I'll gladly risk the danger ... 'cause you are my beloved."

For his part, Sebastian arrives dressed exactly as his long-long sister who is now Cesario (logic be damned–this is Shakespeare at his comic best, after all). Thus, when Olivia sees him and woos him with a seductress' ploys, Sebastian falls quickly, and we witness more mixed-up identity shenanigans with song and dance.

Peppered throughout the evening's spicy yet silly love-solicitations and trickery are scenes of a singing, dancing Greek chorus of sorts: young women dressed in white go-go boots boasting the colorful, short-skirt looks of a time ranging from the 1960s to the 1980s (part of Katie Strawn's eclectic and era-spanning costume designs). Repeatedly singing "Word on the Street," they hold the latest edition of a tell-all magazine entitled "Shout" with glossy cover pics and sung words declaring Illyria's latest love gossip (Laura Merrill, props designer). Unfortunately, the gym-class-inspired choreography with lots of arm and leg pumping but not much else combined with sung numbers where individual and collective voices often do not quite measure up make these interludes more disruptive than fun.

In general, the musical numbers sometimes work well both vocally and humorously while too often at other times, there is not quite enough power or sureness in the particular voice or ensemble to do the number full justice. Even among individual performers, there is quite a range of sometimes hitting the mark and other times just not quite singing with enough oomph and quality of tone to leave a long-lasting impression.

However, in the end, the animated energy and comic prowess of the cast along with many humor-inspired touches by director Sara K. Dean win out for a sojourn in the eclectic, gender-bending, mixed-up Illyria that is fun and funny as Los Altos Stage Company presents Kwame Kwei-Armah and Shaina Taub's musical adaptation of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.

Twelfth Night runs through June 22, 2025, at Los Altos Stage Company, 97 Hillview Avenue, Los Altos CA. For tickets and information, please visit losaltosstage.org. visit the box office Thursday and Friday, 3 - 6 p.m., or by phone at 650-941-0551.