As You Like It review — the RSC’s all-male romp, with hunks and pop songs
6 / 10
More than an hour passed before the actors returned to the stage, cheered on by an audience that was clearly anxious to see more of Jonathan Groff’s winningly vulnerable Rosalind. This was, remarkably enough, the American star’s Shakespearean debut. Although his delivery was overly brisk at times, he settled into the role, darting vampish glances in all directions as the romantic complications piled up. Like Tom Hiddleston in Jamie Lloyd’s party animal reworking of Much Ado about Nothing in the West End, Groff exudes easygoing charisma. And while the women here tend to be confections viewed through a queer lens, there’s genuine electricity between Groff and Elliot Barnes-Worrell’s Orlando in the climactic scenes.
