Chicago Shakespeare emphasizes comedy in Bard romance

With a nudge and a wink and tongue planted firmly in cheek, Chicago Shakespeare Theater's Barbara Gaines solves the problematic "Cymbeline."She does it by emphasizing the comedy in Shakespeare's fantastical comic-tragedy, which echoes earlier, more substantive plays -- "King Lear," "Othello," "Romeo Juliet," "Twelfth Night" -- but packs less of a punch. But while this reduced calorie Lear, this RJ lite, may be less filling, this production sparkles. It's a beguiling, funny show that sends up the very conventions CST embraces (moody music, chimes, liberal use of a smoke machine) and suggests a director unafraid to tweak her own nose.Vigorously told and enthusiastically acted, it's an affectionate, highly theatrical production of a knotty, plotty play whose complicated story overshadows its statements about family, love and loyalty, repentance and forgiveness.Written some 200 years before the Brothers Grimm began collecting folk stories, "Cymbeline's" got fairy tale written all over it. There's a beautiful princess, evil queen, noble rustics, lost children, mysterious potions and a gruesome death. It centers on princess Imogen (a laudable performance by winsome Chaon Cross), a beauty with Portia's brains, Beatrice's wit and Juliet's passion. Against the wishes of her father, Britain's King Cymbeline (the sharp-as-a-tack Larry Yando, who out-Lear's Lear), Imogen marries the lowborn Posthumus (an affable Joe Sikora) who is then banished. The Queen (the imperial Shan#233;sia Davis playing a stepmother to rival Disney's most wicked), schemes to replace Posthumus with her son Cloten, "a thing too bad for bad report," zestily and foppishly played by Brian Sills who recalls "Sex and the City's" Mario Cantone. Posthumus retreats to Italy where he meets a less lethal version of "Othello's" Iago, the glib, seductive Iachimo (a positively Mephistophelian Juan Chioran) who bets the easily provoked newlywed he can seduce virtuous Imogen.Back at court, Cymbeline's refusal to pay tribute to Rome earns a declaration of war from Roman ambassador Caius Lucius (Bradley Armacost). Meanwhile, Imogen and faithful servant Pisanio (Joel Hatch) steal away to Wales where she believes Posthumus awaits. Disguising herself as the boy Fidele, Imogen meets an old mountaineer Belarius (Dennis Kelly) and his rugged but noble sons Guiderius (Stephen Louis Grush) and Arviragus (Derrick Trumbly). Misadventures, mayhem and misreported deaths ensue, all of which gets sorted by the end of this mostly merry show whose tragic moments play out as just desserts and where smiles lurk beyond the actors' smirks. Laughs aside, the production contains some truly poignant moments, particularly the brothers' heartfelt a cappella elegy to Fidele (the famous "Fear no more the heat o' the sun") and in Belarius' determination to safeguard his "sons" and his graciousness in returning them to their father.The acting is first-rate. Cross and Yando are superb, with the latter's comic sense is so well-honed, he elicits more laughs from a raised brow than lesser actors do from an entire monologue. Watching his befuddlement as he presides over the revelations late in the play is a treat. The play itself has flaws: a contrived ending; primary characters who disappear for extended periods (or fail to appear until halfway through the play) and dangling subplots. But by the joyous final scene, a series of dizzying revelations -- played broadly and well against a gorgeous, golden backdrop by designers Michael Philippi and Philip S. Rosenberg -- Shakespeare has woven them into a charming tapestry. But it's the jaw-dropping arrival of John Timothy McFarland's Jupiter (the deus ex machina arriving to resolve the unsolvable) descending in spectacular, smoke-filled display of light and thunder that blows the roof off this exceptional show, which ends happily as fairy tales do, in a sun-drenched haze. "Cymbeline"3 1/2 stars our of fourLocation: Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Navy Pier, 800 E. Grand Ave., ChicagoTimes: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday; 3 and 8 p.m. Saturday; 3 p.m. Sunday through Nov. 11; additional 7 p.m. show Oct. 28; additional 1 p.m. shows Wednesday, Sept. 26, Oct. 3, 10 and 17Running time: About 3 hours, including intermissionParking: Paid lots in and around Navy PierTickets: $54-$70Box office: (312) 595-5600 or www.chicagoshakes.comRating: For teens and older