The marriage of Shakespeare and musical theatre is well established. Cole Porter's frothy musical comedy Kiss Me Kate uses The Taming Of The Shrew as its inspiration, and Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim reset Romeo And Juliet to 1950s New York City for their West Side Story.
Kenneth Branagh takes the bare bones of the Bard's witty romantic comedy, and seamlessly works song and dance numbers into the original text - with George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern and Irving Berlin working in harmony with iambic pentameter. Sounds like an odd combination, but somehow it works.
The whisper of a plot has The King of Navarre (Alessandro Nivola) and his three closest friends - Longaville (Matthew Lillard), Dumaine (Adrian Lester) and Berowne (Branagh) - renouncing women for three years then falling for the Princess of France (Alicia Silverstone) and her three ladies - Maria (Carmen Ejogo), Katherine (Emily Mortimer) and Rosaline (Natascha McElhone).
A comedy of errors ensues involving love letters being delivered to the wrong people until the full truth is revealed and much revelry ensues. All of the cast perform their own songs and dances, some with a great deal more elegance than others.
Adrian Lester's background in musicals is evident in his breathtaking solo but everyone has a good stab, and the roughness of some of the performances only adds to the film's charm.
Silverstone concentrates far too much on getting her syncopation correct and consequently doesn't put much feeling into what she is saying. The remainder of the cast, many of them Shakespeare veterans, have no such problems.
Timothy Spall is a stand-out as Spanish nobleman Don Armado affecting the most outlandish accent he can muster and wringing every last laugh from the audience.
