Playwright: Adam "Roz" Rosowicz. At: Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Ave. Tickets: Stage773.com; $20. Runs through: Sept. 10
He-Manlet might be an unwieldy portmanteau, but the Tragedy of He-Manlet: Prince of Eternia, is a shockingly excellent weaving of two oddly similar narratives.
This is relative genius on the part of New Millennium Theatre, known for its pop-culture-inspired productions. In terms of '80s cartoons, He-Man feels obscure; Hamlet, clearly is not. This production seems likely to attract the He-Man fandom, but really, it should rope in the Hamlet crowd, because it's so much dang fun, no matter how little you know about the land of Eternia.
If you do know something about He-Man, you'll be surprised at how seamlessly Duncan/Man-At Arms, Tila, and Skeletor fit into the Polonius, Ophelia, and Claudius roles. Alex B. Reynolds as Skeletor is a stage-stealer, with his unabashedly cheerful evil and really, really comically bad double entendres. There's clear analogues to a certain orange-haired President in Skeletor's policy and rise to power: he wants to keep immigrants out of Eternia and no one wanted him as king anyway. For the Shakespeare scholar, it's a constant delight to see how this motley crew of half-baked action figures approaches the major scenes of the play.
The famed soliloquy turns into "To He or not to he," a meditation on whether the milquetoast Prince Adam should reveal his dual identity. Yorick's skull transforms into that of Cringer/ Battlecat, an oddly lovely meditation on a lost pet. In his fabled appearance, The Ghost accuses his son, Prince Adam, of being gay, a fair insinuation given He-Man's Tom of Finland appearance, and well, Hamlet never came off as all that masculine either. Prepare yourself for the play ... come to think of it, He-Man, Hamlet and Hamilton all sound a little alike, don't they? It's an epic performance in about five difference accents. And then there's the traditional He-Man elements, like the self-improvement lesson at the end, which Shakespeare tries to do sometimes but He-Man does better.
What carries the production is not merely the thoughtful writing that elevates a schlocky cartoon to a narrative investment, but the obvious joy the actors are taking in performing ( Emma Luttrell's Orko, Christopher Woolsey, and Christopher Donaldson in multiple roles bring this to mind ). There are bold neon tights and Doc Martens. There are outsize gestures and silly accents. It's total scenery chewing camp, but it's done well and with love, and should definitely make He-Manlet an offbeat Friday night plan for a slightly nerdy crowd.