Turns out it wasn’t Duke Orsino of Illyria who said “If music be the food of love, play on,” but rather Duke Ellington of Harlem, at least in the world created on stage at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, in a show featuring hits such as It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing), Don’t Get Around Much Anymore and Mood Indigo.

Worked for me, as I prefer my Shakespeare to be nontraditional. For example, the last time I saw one from the bard at this eponymous theater was As You Like It, featuring 23 Beatles songs. Before that there were such pleasures as The Flying Karamazov Brothers performing in the Comedy of Errors; Gary Busey’s One Man Hamlet; The Second City’s Romeo and Juliet Musical: The People vs. Friar Laurence, The Man Who Killed Romeo and Juliet; and The Q Brothers presenting Othello the Remix.

The show features a host of wonderful performances and a great band. There’s never a dull moment, or, for that matter, a dull color among the jazz-age costumes.