'Merry Wives'

Laughter comes easy and often at this season's second offering at the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival.

Bursting with colorful characters who trick each other through farcical plots, 'The Merry Wives of Windsor' is the Shakespeare play with the closest resemblance to a pilot for a situation comedy. But, though written 450 years ago, it's better and, of course, more original than most anything on the small screen today. The festival's self-assured and marvelously cast production makes it easy to imagine a series set in the small English town of Windsor centered on the Page and Ford households and the nearby Garter Inn. "