ALL FOR ONE—AND A WHOLE
LOT OF MEANWHILES

A rollicking, cleverly staged adventure
that balances spectacle with comic flair

Xavier Lagunas, Jack Sharkey and Boomer Lusink

Swash your buckler and brandish your sword! Idle Muse Theatre opens its 20th year with a new production of The Three Musketeers, adapted by local playwright Robert Kauzlaric from the 1844 novel by Alexandre Dumas.

The production is mounted at The Edge Off-Broadway Theater, whose small space seems to consistently unleash the creativity of production design teams. Jeremiah Barr’s set occupies a corner of the room, creating a satisfyingly medieval-looking stone entryway and platform with a painted cobblestone floor. That is mostly it, but combined with some stunning lighting and projection design from Laura J. Wiley, the space evocatively transforms into a church apse, a prison cellar, a king’s court, and so on. L.J. Luthringer’s clever sound design and original incidental music aid immensely.

Xavier Lagunas, Jack Sharkey, Troy Schaeflein and Boomer Lusink

Kauzlaric’s adaptation is surprisingly faithful to the original text, only toning down the infidelities when it comes to d’Artagnan, the object of whose ardor in the book is a married woman. Here his love, Constance, is virtuous to a fault—which might have been tedious if she were not performed so wonderfully by a luminous Jamie Redwood.

I say “surprisingly faithful” because Les Trois Mousquetaires, in keeping with Dumas’ oeuvre, has a fiendishly complicated plot. D’Artagnan (Troy Schaeflein), a fresh-faced country boy from Gascony, arrives in Paris hoping to join the King’s Musketeers, a guard that serves at the pleasure of King Louis XIII (a mincing Benjamin Jouras). In a tavern, he is set upon by Comte de Rochefort (a splendid, sneering, and sadly underutilized Joel Thompson, with a moustache worthy of a silent film villain). His pride wounded, he runs afoul of our titular heroes—Athos (Jack Sharkey), Porthos (Boomer Lusink—best stage name ever!), and Aramis (Xavier Lagunas)—challenging each of them to a duel.

Jennifer Mohr and Eric Duhon

Meanwhile—this is a story with a lot of “meanwhiles”—Rochefort, henchman of the scheming Cardinal Richelieu (a splendid, sneering, and better utilized Eric Duhon, also with a moustache worthy of a silent film villain), conspires with Milady de Winter (Jennifer Mohr, vamping to perfection and clearly having a blast) to undermine the Queen’s influence on Louis XIII by revealing her chaste love affair with the Duke of Buckingham (also Benjamin Jouras).

Meanwhile, back at the duel, the musketeers realize that d’Artagnan is the sole person they have to fight—but before our naïve hero is killed, the Cardinal’s Guard arrives and tries to arrest them for brawling in the streets, setting up a beautifully choreographed duel that occasionally comes a little too close to the audience for comfort. Our heroes (plural, now) win, of course.

Jamie Redwood and Troy Schaeflein

Oof—that was exhausting, and at this point we are barely twenty-five minutes into a two-and-a-half-hour play. It is to the actors’ and director Evan Jackson’s great credit that the show never flags. Even as the plot grows increasingly intricate, the narrative remains clear. Jackson also leans into the humor with great success. For the most part, the first act plays as comedy—which is just as well, because the French accents are atrocious, more ‘Allo ‘Allo! than anything else. Their silliness suits the tone.

Jack Sharkey and Jennifer Mohr

The comic centerpiece of the show is the ride to Buckingham, which must be seen to be believed—no description can do it justice. It isn’t until near the end of Act One that a tonal shift arrives with Athos’ tragic backstory, but Sharkey is remarkable here, carefully balancing humor and pathos to deliver the best-acted scene in the play.

Jack Sharkey

The accents settle—and occasionally disappear—in the second act, which is more serious and in line with traditional adaptations, though humor still breaks through at regular intervals. Mohr deepens the villainous Milady, giving her far more nuance and complexity than she possesses in the book. The fights are all fantastic; violence directors Brendan Hutt—who also essays several minor roles—and Libby Beyreis deserve a round of applause.

Troy Schaeflein and Eric Duhon

Schaeflein makes for a fine d’Artagnan, offering an earnest, likable performance that quickly wins us over, but the standout of the night is Lusink—again, best stage name ever—whose vain, womanizing, not-too-bright Porthos is an absolute delight every time he steps onstage.

There are a few minor nits, mostly involving underused actors—inevitable in a cast this large. Thompson’s Rochefort is so arresting that one wishes he had more to do. More of Lagunas’s dry, measured delivery would also be welcome, though the role itself is lightly sketched even in the novel. Changing the sex of the landlord and Milady’s guard proves an interesting choice, adding new layers of motivation. Casting the same actor, Vanessa Copeland, in both roles is a clever move, as is having Jouras double as both Queen Anne’s husband and her paramour.

Caty Gordon and Benjamin Jouras

As a writer, Dumas sought only to entertain, and for any adaptation of his work, that must be the defining criterion: Is Idle Muse’s The Three Musketeers entertaining?

It is. Wildly so.

And spare a thought for poor Sam Neel: never has an actor died so many times onstage. Requiescat in pace, dear redshirt.

Boomer Lusink, Brendan Hutt, Vanessa Copeland and Sam Neel

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photos by Steven Townshend

The Three Musketeers
The Edge Off-Broadway Theater, 1133 W Catalpa Ave., Chicago
Thurs, Fri & Sat at 8; Sun at 3; Wed at 8 (April 22)
2 hours 25 minutes, including intermission
ends on April 25, 2026
for tickets ($30; $20 seniors/students; $50 pay-it-forward),
call 773.340.9438 or visit Idle Muse

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