{Lord Walsingham (Rob Krakovski), Queen Elizabeth (Carol Halstead), the Earl of Derby (Brad Bellamy) and Sir Francis Bacon (Brian Thompson) in The Beard of Avon}

Beard of Avon finally opened on Friday night, to a rousing response from the audience in attendance. I am struck by how many of the “theater” jokes audiences seem to appreciate. And they always get a charge out of the evolution of Anne Hathaway’s (Catherine Lynn Davis) struggles with her dreamy husband, Will Shakespere (Darius Pierce).

Shakespere is not a very good farmer, and his life is transformed by the appearance of a group of wandering players. Meanwhile Brent Harris (Edward DeVere, 17th Earl of Oxford) is trying to pull himself out of a funk that hitting 40 has brought on.

Carol Halstead (the star of last season’s Bad Dates) is difficult to recognize as the ruler of the most powerful country on earth. But she manages to find great humor in the opportunity.

A disguised Anne Hathaway manages to have both a hilarious and heart-rending adulterous romp with her husband’s patron, the 17th Earl of Oxford. She then wonders where fortune will lead her marriage.

The Queen appears at the theater for a command performance of a very special play, which gets a little out of hand.

But the relationship of the two competing authors proves the playwright’s ultimate interest.