Matt Lacas as Robin Hood Photo by Dahlia Katz
The 20th Anniversary Production of Robin Hood: The Legendary Musical Comedy opened July 5th at Shakespeare By the Sea at the Cambridge Battery in Point Pleasant Park. It runs there until August 30th, 2025.
The show began in 2005 as a collective creation by that year’s acting company and has music and lyrics by Jeremy Hutton and Kieran Macmillan. We are introduced to the miserable impoverished peasants of Nottingham suffering greatly under the rule of tax-happy Prince John (Jade Douris-O’Hara). Our hero, Robin Hood (Matt Lacas) arrives and falls accidentally into a scheme whereby he will steal money from Prince John and redistribute the wealth, but first he comes up against Will Scarlet (Zach Colangelo) and her gang of thieves, and then he falls in love with a shallow member of the 1%, Maid Marian, (Melanie Leon), which further complicates his quest, and puts him even more at odds with the lusty Prince. Will Robin Hood and Marian find a way to bridge their class struggles? Will Prince John thwart Robin Hood at the archery competition? Will the Sheriff of Nottingham (Patrick Jeffrey) spend a large portion of the show dressed as a squirrel for no reason? Mayhaps.
Hutton and Macmillan have created a really fun score for this show. The songs are catchy; quite a few of them have impressive patter portions to them, and they are all brought to vivid life by Jade Douris-O’Hara’s engaging choreography. I found that a lot of the strongest comedic elements in this play, directed by Jesse MacLean, come from all the physicality in the show, whether that be in dance, in movement more broadly, or in fight choreography. There are so many genuinely hilarious silly moments watching both how the characters move, and also how they interact with one another. I did really miss having a live band for this show.
Do you know what I mean when I say that in classic Walt Disney movies they used to do fade outs at the end of scenes focused on the villain’s face and the last thing to fade was usually their eyes? You see it with Scar in The Lion King, and Lady Tremaine in Cinderella, among others, and it always unnerved me as a kid. Zach Colangelo has this quality when she plays villainous characters where I find myself seeing this effect without any camera or special effects at all. She is very gifted at pouring so much emotion into her eyes and they seer into you until they’re all that you’re seeing on the stage. She does this with Will Scarlet, a hardened and opportunistic gang leader, but Scarlet is thrown off her game when she suddenly develops confusing feelings for Robin Hood, despite her better judgement. Colangelo does a good job at not sweetening Will Scarlet too much as the play goes on, but somehow still manages to make her one of the most likeable characters in the show.
The most likeable character, I think it’s safe to say, the fan favourite, the constant scene-stealer is Rachel Lloyd as Sven, one of Scarlet’s gang, who is dressed like Pinocchio from Shrek and is just as bizarre. Sven barely speaks English, and I think, maybe, wandered into the show from a different play by accident, but here he is to merrily introduce himself and make himself, and his national pride, known, whether it enhances the plot or not. Lloyd’s pure innocence in what is an otherwise extremely sardonic show is a bright comedic and creative light.
Matt Lacas is well cast as Robin Hood. Physically, he really captures much of what we associate with being a hero: he exudes strength and stability, calm under pressure, rationality, and bravery. Personality wise, due to the way the character is written, Lacas has a bit of a Gaston quality too, which keeps Robin Hood from being entirely likeable. Jade Douris-Hara brings a lot to Prince John; my favourite are the times when she seems to be channelling a bit of Tim Curry, and is sort of a strange mix of flirtatious and devious- and not just with Marian.
As I said the book for this musical was written as a collective creation twenty years ago, and, even though I know it’s a fun, silly, little romp meant for children, there are some aspects that I think have room for further development. This story is uniquely challenging because there are so many villains: Prince John and the Sheriff of Nottingham are both the antagonists, but Will Scarlet and Maid Marian are both cunning and unscrupulous as well, and the Prince has an ensemble full of goons to uphold his treachery, and Scarlet has a gang of thieves to uphold hers. There isn’t a lot of leeway for the actors to make sure that each of these people is grounded in a different way of expressing villainy or different shades of it, because they’re all written so similarly on the page. They all rely a lot on their lack of intelligence to soften them, and I think, especially in the case of the Prince and the Sheriff, they are actually softened a bit too much. We never really see either of them as being a real threat to the peasants, so there aren’t high enough stakes at play for Robin Hood. There also isn’t any consistency between the way Prince John especially, but the Sheriff as well, express themselves in the scenes, versus the much more sophisticated ways they communicate in the songs. I didn’t mind not being given a reason for the Sheriff of Nottingham’s strange ambush costume choices, but I think there’s a missed opportunity for the other characters to be commenting on what a weirdo he is, and maybe using that as part of how he is eventually unmasked as not being as terrifying as the peasants originally believe him to be at the beginning? I also think it’s challenging, especially in a family show, to have both romantic leads be so morally dubious. I think Leon and Lacas ultimately do pull it off, but it seems to be an unnecessary complication.
Robin Hood is a fun evening at the theatre; it’s filled with great music, cartoon-level silliness, and a lot of random shenanigans that give the show a distinctive Shrek feel. I think audiences are going to have a really fun time in the park this summer.
One thing kept nagging me, though, as I enjoyed the production, and maybe this is just me being precious about Robin Hood because it was the first Disney movie I was ever obsessed with as a kid, but, as I said, this show was written in 2005, and it very much feels like a show written in 2005. It has a very cynical, postmodern, self-aware humour to it- just like Shrek, because it was written during that same era when this type of humour was not just popular but also, for better or for worse, captured an irreverent, self-referential moment that we were living in just after 9/11. And I know Shakespeare By the Sea doesn’t want to create an overly political family show either, I know that, but I will say, I have to say, in 2025 I think what we need right now more than irony is sincerity. Robin Hood is the story of someone who is moved by the real injustice he sees in the world to try to make that world more fair. He is altruistic in the face of a monarch who hoards wealth and a sheriff who trades in cruelty for cruelty’s sake. I cannot think of a more apt story for this moment.
In a real world where it often seems like everyone is a villain, it might be nice to see something where everyone is a hero.
Robin Hood: The Legendary Musical Comedy is a collective creation by the 2005 Shakespeare By the Sea collective with music and lyrics by Kieran MacMillan and Jeremy Hutton. It is directed by Jesse MacLean. It opens July 5th, 2025 and runs in rep with As You Like It until August 30th, 2025. Check this calendar for show dates. Shows are 7:00pm at the Cambridge Battery inside Point Pleasant Park. Tickets range in price from PWYC (Suggestion Donation $20.00) at the Door or Online the Day of the Show (Bring Your Own Chair or a Blanket- or rent one when you arrive), to $34.20 (Tax Included) for a Sweet Seat or $57.00 (Tax Included) for a Sweetest Seat- Tickets are availble here. There are three 1:00pm matinees of Robin Hood, which are PWYC, inside at the Halifax Central Library (5440 Spring Garden Road, Halifax)- August 9th, August 23rd & August 30th.
Shakespeare By the Sea is wheelchair accessible and anyone with accessibility needs can book a ride from the upper parking lot in Point Pleasant Park to the Cambridge Battery venue. Dogs are welcome, and all performances are Relaxed Performances. For more information about accessibility please visit this website or call 902.422.0295 for more information.
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