SITE GUIDE
SEARCH
REVIEWS
REVIEW ARCHIVES
ADVERTISING AT CURTAINUP
FEATURES
NEWS
Etcetera and
Short Term Listings
LISTINGS
Broadway
Off-Broadway
NYC Restaurants
BOOKS and CDs
OTHER PLACES
Berkshires
London
California
New Jersey
DC
Philadelphia
Elsewhere
QUOTES
TKTS
PLAYWRIGHTS' ALBUMS
LETTERS TO EDITOR
FILM
LINKS
MISCELLANEOUS
Free Updates
Masthead
A CurtainUp Berkshire Review
The Importance of Being Earnest
By Elyse Sommer
|
" You can hardly imagine that I and Lord Bracknell would dream of allowing our only daughter — a girl brought up with the utmost care — to marry into a cloak-room and form an alliance with a parcel."— Lady Bracknell "Memory, my dear Cecily, is the diary that we all carry about with us "— Miss Prism |
Tyne Daly as Lady Bracknell (Photo by T. Charles Erickson)
|
I've been a big fan of David Hyde Pierce as an actor both on TV (as the deliciously prissy Dr. Niles Crane on the NBC's Frasier and Stage (Spamalot and Curtains). After reading my colleague Simon Saltzman's enthusiastic review of Pierce's first directing gig, the musical It Should Have Been You at the George Street Playhouse I was eager to see his second outing at the helm at Williamstown, especially since Tyne Daly, that show's hilarious Jewish mother was also on board as Lady Bracknell.
With Earnest produced so many times that it's hard not to stifle a yawn at the idea of yet another production. Therefore you can't fault Mr. Pierce for wanting to give his version a new twist. That twist came courtesy of Damon Runyon the creator of those famous gangsterish "dem guys and dolls." As he explained to those with raised eyebrows at his idea of fast-forwarding from the Victorian era to Runyon's 1930's gangster world these Runyonesque characters could play out the romantic impediments to the guys getting their gals, without sacrificing a single of Wilde's much quoted witticisms — and that Lady Bracknell could be persuasive as the grand dame of this mob style family.
At the beginning it looks as if this conceit might work. There's a distinct touch of Runyon's gangsterish world in a scene where tomato sauce is being simmered but the guys in dark suits and sporting holsters also display a Wildean taste for cucumber sandwiches. Allen Moyer's ingenious sliding set takes us from what looks like a hangout to various rooms in the London flat of Algernon Moncrieff (a standout performance by Louis Cancelmi) where the various plot complications are established.
However, by the time Tyne Daly and her daughter Glendolyn sweep into the flat it begins to look as if Mr. Pierce's concept is going to be a case of an admirably nervy but directorial failure. Despite the top drawer cast, and Michael Krass costumes to support the applause worthiness of the production values, the marriage of Wilde and Runyon just doesn't work. Yes, the director has remained true to Wilde's script, but somehow the ever witty mots don't land with their usual sparkle. Maybe if Hyde had gone all out as he does at the begning and the end, his concept might have worked better. As it is, he has relied too heavily on sight gags to keep the Runyon conceit going — like having Lady Bracknell accompanied by a bodyguard (Shaun Lennon), poised at all times to frisk or even rub out any of his boss's enemies.
The cast overall do their utmost to make Wilde's funny play even funnier as conceived by the director. Tyne Daly does capture the tough, scheming babe within the formidable dowager as written by Wilde. The actors playing the inevitably happily engaged guys and gals are fine. But the real stars of this intriguing but ultimately wrong-headed production are the aforementioned Allen Moyers' sets, especially the sliding room-to-room opening one, and the sublime Marylouise Burke and Henry Stram as Miss Prism and Rev. Canon Chasuble. These minor but major characters have always tended to be scene stealers and Burke and Stram prove themselves to be delightful thieves whether playing their parts á la Wilde or Runyon.
In case you've never seen or read The importance of Being Earnest, here's the synopsis which, except for the scenery, costumes and above mentioned sight gags, is true to the original: In order to enjoy their bachelor lives both John Worthing and his friend Algernon Moncrieff have invented fictitious characters as alibis for the frequent absence from their homes —- from the country in John's case, and town in Algernon's. John's "alibi" is a fictitious bad-boy brother, Algernon's is a sickly pal named Bunbury. John does want to marry Algernon's cousin Gwendolyn and the crafty Algernon wants to meet his ward Cecily, which he does pretending to be Ernest. The ladies are more than happy with their suitors since both are fixated on the appeal of men named Ernest. The men hasten to oblige them by arranging to be christened. To ramp up the complications: John was a foundling, left in a handbag at Victoria Station and is thus unable to satisfy Cecily's mother's requirements for a suitable husband. However, all ends well with Miss Prism, Cecily's governess, being the key to John's true parentage and a triple happy finale.
|
The Importance of Being Earnest By Oscar Wilde Directed by David Hyde Pierce Cast: William Berger-Bailey (Harry the Horse), Marylouise Burke (Miss Prism), Charlotte Bydwell (Handmaid), Louis Cancelmi (Algernon Moncrieff), Julian Cihi (Feet Samuels),Helen Rita Cespedes (Cecily Cardew), Sean Cullen (Lane), Tyne Daly (Lady Bracknell), Glenn Fitzgerald (Jack Worthing), Shaun Lennon (Butch), Paul Anthony McGrane (Merriman), TJ Sclafani (Big Julie), Amy Spanger (Gwendolyn Fairfax), Henry Stram (Rev.Chasuble Ariana Seigel (Handmaid). Scene Design: Allen Moyer Costume Design: Michael Krass Lighting Design: Ben Stanton Sound Design: Jill BC DuBoff Design: Paul Huntley Fight Director: Thomas Schall Dialect Coach: Stephen Gabis Stage Manager: Eileen Kelly The Williamstown Theatre Festival Running time: 2 1/2 Hours Williams Town Theatre MainStage From June26 to July 14 Reviewed by Elyse Sommer 6/30/12 |
|
REVIEW FEEDBACK Highlight one of the responses below and click "copy" or"CTRL+C"
Paste the highlighted text into the subject line (CTRL+ V): Feel free to add detailed comments in the body of the email. . .also the names and emails of any friends to whom you'd like us to forward a copy of this review. Visit Curtainup's Blog Annex For a feed to reviews and features as they are posted add http://curtainupnewlinks.blogspot.com to your reader Curtainup at Facebook . . . Curtainup at Twitter Subscribe to our FREE email updates: E-mail: esommer@curtainup.comesommer@curtainup.com put SUBSCRIBE CURTAINUP EMAIL UPDATE in the subject line and your full name and email address in the body of the message. If you can spare a minute, tell us how you came to CurtainUp and from what part of the country. |
Slings & Arrows- view 1st episode free
Anything Goes Cast RecordingOur review of the show
Book of Mormon -CDOur review of the show
