It required three days of ruminating in his back yard for director James Vásquez to hit on his vision for the Old Globe’s new production of Shakespeare’s “The Comedy of Errors.”
“On the third day,” he recalled, “I put on a ’90s radio station on Apple Music. Feeling the nostalgia of those songs and the melodrama of those songs and the ridiculousness of some of those songs, I found myself as I was reading the play starting to sing lyrics in place of some of Shakespeare’s verse. I discovered how that music lent itself so much to the actual storytelling of ‘The Comedy of Errors.’”
So for this Globe staging outdoors in the Lowell Davies Festival Theatre, “We’ve set it in the 1990s, riffing a little bit on that Pacific Northwest vs. Southern California. ‘The Comedy of Errors’ starts out in a bit of a heavy place, but through the storytelling and the music of it, the color and the brightness explodes throughout. That became my way in — inspired by the grunge vs. ‘Beverly Hills 90210’ world of the 1990s.”
James Vásquez directs “The Comedy of Errors” at the Old Globe. (The Old Globe)
As a director, Vásquez is an experienced time traveler, having set the Globe’s 2023 production of Shakespeare’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor” in the 1950s and, just recently, he helmed playwright Sandy Rustin’s 1980s jukebox musical “Always Something There …” at Chicago’s Marriott Theatre.
The ‘90s setting for “The Comedy of Errors” won’t be so audacious as integrating “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” but, Vásquez said, “There’s some occasional fun with the language and updating some of the words to make it the 1990s. Since we’re setting it in a more contemporary world that allows some freedom in the musicality and rhythm of the language, it allows more people in.”
“The Comedy of Errors” was last produced at the Globe 10 years ago. A “Globe for All Tour” of the play directed by Em Weinstein was produced in 2023 at various communities across San Diego. The play about two sets of twins is popular for its mistaken-identity mix-ups, slapstick and physicality.
The Old Globe’s “The Comedy of Errors” features, from left, Daniel Petzold (Dromio of Ephesus), left, Brandon Micheal Hall (Antipholus of Syracuse), Joshua Echebiri (Antipholus of Ephesus) and Will Blum (Dromo of Syracuse). (Jim Cox)
At the Globe, Brandon Micheal Hall and Joshua Echebiri (the Globe’s “King James”) are the Antipholus twins of Syracuse and Ephesus respectively. The twin Dromio servants who are their sidekicks are Will Blum and Daniel Petzold (the Globe’s “Appropriate” earlier this year). Sarah Stiles (also from “Appropriate” and twice a Tony Award nominee) is Adriana, wife of Antipholus of Ephesus.
For Blum, “The Comedy of Errors” marks his first Shakespeare acting performance.
“I don’t think I even did one in college,” he said. “I studied it and did scene work. As a director and coach, I love it. It’s like Sondheim — just a big puzzle and you have to figure it out.”
When last seen in San Diego, Blum was starring in a production of the Stephen Sondheim/James Lapine musical “Sunday in the Park with George” with CCAE Theatricals in Escondido. His background is in musical theater with a resume that includes “Beetlejuice,” “The Book of Mormon” and “School of Rock” on Broadway.
“It’s a challenge,” he said, of his playing Dromio of Syracuse at the Globe, “but this Shakespeare in particular would be different if I were doing ‘Henry V.’ Because it’s ‘The Comedy of Errors,” what’s more important is the performance aspect of it and making things funny, which is usually my bread and butter. I don’t feel intimidated by it.”
Director Vásquez pointed out that some of his cast members “are wildly versed and trained in Shakespeare” while others, such as Blum, are having their first go at the Bard.
“One of the beautiful things about ‘The Comedy of Errors,’” Vásquez said, “is we have a lot of musical theater performers in the show. ‘The Comedy of Errors’ has such a musical theater vibe and energy to it that I find there’s a similar sensibility. These actors that are new to it are bringing something so fresh while understanding the language beautifully.”
Will Blum (as Dromio of Syracuse), left, and Daniel Petzold (Dromio of Ephesus) in the Old Globe’s “The Comedy of Errors.” (Jim Cox)
Blum finds his Dromio character a kindred spirit.
“Not to undermine my own work, but I’ve played so many characters like him that I have manila folders ready to go,” he said. “At the same time because I’m so comfortable with a character like this and James is so open to ‘capital-S-Stupid’ ideas I’ve gotten to play in a way that I haven’t gotten to play in a while in essentially creating a role like this.”
That playfulness hasn’t been lost on Vásquez.
“Will’s a little bit of an instigator, in the most beautiful way,” he said. “Somebody drops an idea and he’ll go ‘Yeah! I’ll do that,’ and then the next thing you know he’s got everybody climbing up the walls.”
Vásquez has been working with his cast in rehearsals on the breathless physicality often called for in the play.
“I come in always with very clear, specific road maps of what I would like the overall picture to look like and the movement surrounding it,” he explained. “I rehearse it at home in my ‘one-man kitchen show’ first. I find that about 70 percent of what I create naturally fits somebody else.”
Blum’s come prepared.
“Luckily,” he said, I’ve been on a fitness journey for the past year. I honestly do Jane Fonda (program) every morning. It’s an amazing workout.”
“The Comedy of Errors” is not only Blum’s debut in Shakespeare but his debut at the Old Globe. “I feel very taken care of,” he said of his experience. “It feels like Broadway summer camp.”
The outdoor Lowell Davies stage is special to Vásquez, who remembered seeing his first Shakespeare plays, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “Richard III,” there during the summer of 1985. He’s since acted and directed in all three Old Globe venues in Balboa Park. He doesn’t have a favorite, but says: “There’s something magical outdoors about no back wall, and occasionally hearing a rhinoceros.”
‘The Comedy of Errors’
When: Previews, July 27 through Aug. 1. Opens Aug. 2 and runs through Aug. 24. 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays
Where: Lowell Davies Festival Theatre, The Old Globe, 1363 Old Globe Way, Balboa Park, San Diego
Tickets: $36 and up
Phone: 619-234-5623
Online: theoldglobe.org
Originally Published: July 20, 2025 at 6:00 AM PDT