'The Godfather' via Shakespeare

Playwright David Mann knows his Shakespeare down to the vocabulary, cadence and sentence structure. Four years ago, he invested that knowledge in "Corleone" at the Minnesota Fringe Festival. Mann winnowed "The Godfather" into an hourlong drama spoken in Shakespearean verse. He has expanded the work into a full-length play (still under two hours with intermission). More is not necessarily more in this version, which opened under Mann's direction Friday at Gremlin Theatre in St. Paul.

On the face of it, this gambit is so simple that someone should have thought of it long ago. Credit Mann for actually doing the hard work of finding the intersections of "The Godfather" with Shakespeare's themes -- betrayal, death, love, adultery, fate. The blend is often deliciously funny, as when assassins report back after dispatching a Las Vegas kingpin: "The soul of Moe Green has been divorced from bone and flesh."

Mann also sneaks in homages to Shakespeare, such as Michael Corleone (Ryan Lindberg) and associates pondering whether to pour poison in the ear of a rival, or use a deadly asp. Sonny (Peter Christian Hansen) suffers death a la Caesar, surrounded and attacked with daggers. Later his ghost appears to Michael in Sicily. Mann's work almost feels artistic, without pretension. He allows pop references, including one character who laments, "I hunger like the wolf."

This clever and elevated language alone doesn't fully rejuvenate the story. That requires the good offices of actors. I've long admired Bruce Hyde's work and was curious to see him in the central role of Vito Corleone, the don of a Mafioso family. Under Mann's direction, Hyde comes off as a patrician, almost with a British diffidence. Physically, he walks too lightly for a man bearing the weight of this life. Lindberg speaks the words of Michael with some conviction but he has the magnetism of a baked potato.

Other actors acquit themselves well. Hansen's hotheaded volatility as Sonny, Randy Schmeling's taciturn repose as Tom Hagen and Charles Hubbell's gangly unease as Fredo all stand the test. Garry Geiken plays several roles with a spot-on knack for the voice and demeanor. John Farrell's big mug and distinctive voice make him an asset.

Tamatha Miller has created an elegant, taupe-colored portico with several playing spaces and doors that serve the pace well. A. Emily Heaney's costumes are exquisitely simple, working with black and gray motifs.

The entire enterprise loses something, though, in this revisit. The fresh jape has faded.

Graydon Royce • 612-673-7299