Who needs Santa when we have director Asae Dean, who has gifted us with her fresh and merry version of Much Ado About Nothing for the holiday season?

Presented by her theater company, Salt and Sage, in repertory with Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale at Artists Repertory Theatre, this irrepressible and accessible production is a charismatic mix of inspired performances, along with music, dance and design … plus some satisfying sass flicked in the face of a few patriarchal party poopers.

The plot of Much Ado, one of Shakespeare’s most popular comedies, involves a pair of warring wit crackers, Beatrice and Benedick, both of whom claim they’re happy without partners. When Beatrice’s cousin, Hero, gets engaged to Benedick’s pal, Claudio, though, their friends take it upon themselves to fool the sworn singletons into falling in love with each other as well.

All goes according to plan until the devious Don John plays a trick of his own, persuading  Claudio that Hero is cheating on him.

This plot development can be off-putting for many a modern audience member. After all, Claudio (an affable Murren Kennedy), being the gullible guy that he is, publicly humiliates Hero when he accuses her of infedelity. What’s more, Hero’s own dad, Leonato (David Heath), says he’d rather see her dead than believe she cuckolded Claudio.  

Not to worry, though: This Hero, played by Nina Pamintuan, is not the bashful and boo-hooing victim we usually see, but a woman enraged by her unworthy fiancé. Her act of defiance when left standing at the altar is a theatrical triumph – visually changing the tone of the Elizabethan play without imposing a clumsy and contemporary re-write.

Much Ado is like a dazzling best friend who’s always reinventing herself, with such disparate settings as the Mexican Revolution, an upper-class Black suburb, or Kenneth Branagh’s sunbaked Italian estate in the 1993 film.

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Dean’s vision is especially beguiling, thanks to a number of creative touches, including her use of music. The unusual assortment of tunes, performed by the actors, treats us to everything from a rendition of Gerry Rafferty’s 1978 easy rock “Right Down the Line” – an oddly perfect choice for the wedding scene – to Monica Martin’s 2018 “Cruel,” and a jazzy version of Shakespeare’s “Sigh No More, Ladies, Sigh No More” (aka “Hey Nonny, Nonny”).

Then there’s the moment when a lovesick Benedick (Bobby Bermea) steps onstage playing a harmonica and attempting to write a ballad for Beatrice (Allison Anderson).

Warning: You may never see another Benedick as charming and funny as Bermea’s is. Whether he’s grooving to the music at the masked ball, skulking behind pillars, or standing with his mouth open in an O of astonishment after Beatrice insults him, he can’t mask the impish joie de vivre beneath. At the same time, though, he proves to be Claudio’s opposite – a trusting and trustworthy romantic partner.

Anderson, who was a scorching Lady Macbeth, also opposite Bermea, in Salt and Sage’s 2023 Macbeth, has a no-nonsense vibe here, emphasized by her businesslike blazer and oxford shoes. More than romance, it’s a sense of justice that lights her fire. When her cousin is defamed, Anderson’s delivery of the famous “O, that I were a man” speech holds all the ferocity that Beatrice fans could hope for.

The humor, though, in Much Ado must rule, and it bubbles throughout the show with lively costumes (by Harper York) and movement. The ball, with sequins and fox and jester masks, also includes a witty stylized dance (choreography by Leiana Petlewsky).

Meanwhile, Don John’s friend Borachio (Maia McCarthy, crackling with sleazy glee) struts onstage in a shiny royal blue suit, and Don John (Caitlin Nolan, a natural comedian) slinks around in a long black-fur-collared cape. Elliot Lorenc, too, as the bumbling constable Dogberry in a tweedy Sherlock Holmes hat, is a hilarious presence, with cartoon facial expressions and fingers that flutter and jab as he emits his signature malapropisms. 

Kyra Sanford’s set design also adds to the fun, especially when we see Don John lolling on a tilted, circular dais or Beatrice inch-worming along its side in order to eavesdrop on her friends. Happily, the set also offers some striking visuals used for dramatic effect, such as when the white-gowned Hero, unaware that Claudio has turned against her, stands in the center of the dais waiting for her groom to arrive.

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In the background, moss-tinged pillars and hanging garlands of red and white flowers give the production a festive feel, as do the poinsettia boutonniere that Benedick wears and the rosy light with which designer Sophina Flores bathes the set.

Creating a show that’s both funny and feminist, Dean and her team of effervescent artists (including Salt and Sage cast regulars Paul Susi, Christian Gutierrez, returning actor Peter Schuyler and company newcomer Hanne Laure’l) have turned Shakespeare’s perennially enjoyable comedy into a colorful holiday delight for contemporary audiences of all ages.

Much Ado About Nothing

•   Company: Salt and Sage
•   Where: Artists Repertory Theatre, 1515 S.W. Morrison St., Portland
•   When: 7:30 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, 2 p.m. Saturdays through Dec. 20
•   Ticket & schedule information: Here

The Winter’s Tale

•  When: 7:30 p.m. Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays through Dec. 21
• Ticket & schedule information: Here