Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

Rhetoric reigns in "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead," Tom Stoppard's radical retelling of "Hamlet," and in this entirely female-cast production, the gender switch does not derail the existential crux of the play. The leading actors enunciate with impeccable confidence and timing. However, I couldn't help feeling that the untraditional casting was more of a gimmick than a functional device.

In a note, De Kler says he wants to give women a chance to play these iconic, typically male roles, and he changes no words in the script (everyone is a sir or a man) or costumes (the women sport men's garb designed by Michael Tester.) I understand that De Kler is trying to show that the play stands alone and women can perform these roles just as well as men, but more could have been done with this casting choice.

No sets occupy the simple black-box theater, but the show's mantra, "Every exit is an entrance somewhere else," fills this intellectual feast. The pair, Hamlet's friends from Shakespeare's famous tragedy, speak few lines in the Bard's version, but Stoppard gives them a philosophical and comic voice. As the characters weave in and out of Hamlet's world—Shakespeare's characters make intermittent appearances—Stoppard shows the other side of the story, with the same ending that the play's title obviously spoils. Death is the only finale, after all.

The strawberry-haired, doe-eyed Allison Hirschlag gives an insightful performance as the seemingly dumb Rosencrantz, and she is the perfect foil for Jessica Delbridge, whose calculated work as the philosophical Guildenstern feels very researched and rehearsed. Whitney Kimball Long commands the stage as the Player, and Aida Leguizamon stands out among the tragedians as both Polonius and Alfred, though Alfred's cross-dressing bit loses its humor in this production.

Comedians such as Tina Fey and Amy Poehler have long put to bed the notion that women aren't funny. But just as men in drag isn't always a good idea, women dressing up as men requires a raison d'être. Why cast women in these roles? Is De Kler trying to say that the only good comic parts are written for men?

Presented by Panicked Productions as part of the Midtown International Theatre Festival at the Dorothy Strelsin Theatre, 312 W. 36th St., 1st floor, NYC. July 13–29. Remaining performances: Sun., July 17, 2:30 p.m.; Tue., July 19, 6 p.m.; Fri., July 22, 8 p.m.; Mon., July 25, 8 p.m.; Fri., July 29, 6 p.m. (212) 352-3101, (866) 811-4111, or www.midtownfestival.org. Casting by Chie Morita.