S TA G E
IN A NUTSHELL
Austen and Sondheim get just enough time and space.
BY
D E BO R A H HIRS CH
STAGE
BOB PA ISL E Y
note to fans of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice: Jon Jory’s 2006 stage adaptation, onstage at Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre, is the SparkNotes version. And to those unfamiliar with the 1813 novel? You might read the SparkNotes summary before attending. I fit in the first category, so I wasn’t helped by rewatching the six-hour (also condensed) BBC version (Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth) and rereading the book — yes, both — in the past year. This production of the romantic saga is told quickly (in MORE 130 minutes, not including the intermission). I tried to T A INE watch from the perspective ONL .COM PITCH of viewers less familiar with the details — would they follow everything? — but I’d already eaten the apple. With its many characters and plot threads, when he dances with Elizabeth). And Bingley Pride and Prejudice is an ambitious undersweeps in to claim Jane (Liz Clark Golson). taking for any dramatist, and Jory wastes no Likewise, benches form a carriage, and Elizatime touring country estates. The MET show beth and the Gardiners (Karen Paisley and Alan includes 19 actors playing 27 characters, some Tilson) are suddenly traipsing onto the Pembermaking such brief appearances (the role of ley estate. The scenes with the housekeeper and Georgiana Darcy, for instance) that I nearly Darcy at Pemberley are just as eye-blink brief. forgot they were in it. Sometimes characters remain onstage when On director Karen Paisley’s mostly bare they’re separated by geography, but lighting stage (the audience sits on rising rows of seats (by Greg Casparian) helps connect them. Afon each side), with a portico at one end and a ter Darcy delivers his letter gazebolike structure at the to Elizabeth on her walk, he other, actors enter and exit Pride and Prejudice remains in a dimmer light quickly — movement is virThrough May 6 at Metropolitan because he isn’t really there. tually constant — to move Ensemble Theatre, 3614 Main, Peterson is an opinionscenes along. A bench is 816-569-3226, metkc.org ated, headstrong and, in this brought in, and Elizabeth interpretation, emotive Eliz(Emily Peterson) and Mr. Sweeney Todd abeth. She and Todd Carlton Wickham (Matt Leonard, Through April 29, at Musical Lanker (as the detached, giving off just enough of Theater Heritage, Off Center sexy, arrogant Darcy) rethe bad boy) are talking in Theatre, 2450 Grand, main strongly central amid the garden. The bench is re816-842-9999, mthkc.com the musical-chairs composimoved, and Elizabeth is back tion. Both actors were in The in the house at Longbourn. Importance of Being Earnest, at the American Mr. Bingley (Taylor St. John, refined and Heartland Theatre, until April 15 (this play guileless and clumsy) and his sister, Caroline opened April 19), but they’ve completely left (Stefanie Wienecke, scornful and snobby), apbehind the shallow Cecily and the dandy Alpear at the portico to hand off an invitation to gernon. Cathy Wood, too, held a small role in Mr. Collins. Mere seconds later, dancers take that production, yet here becomes the ditzy, the floor at the Netherfield ball (where TJ Chasnervous, graceless Mrs. Bennet. teen, as the pompous Collins, is at his funniest
SHARON HARTER
A
The Bennets stand to receive Lady Catherine de Bourgh (left), and Richard's Sweeney Todd lies in wait. Marilyn Lynch makes a big impression in her small appearances as the haughty Lady Catherine de Bourgh. And Robert Gibby Brand nearly upstages the stars as the lovingly sarcastic Mr. Bennet. When Mrs. Bennet says, “I can hardly explain to you, the shocking rudeness of Mr. Darcy,” he replies simply: “Then how wise not to try.” Jory might have heeded that advice. His play’s biggest drawback — the time, or lack of it — means that much (probably too much, even with the script's use of narration) is left out. The two protagonists’ ultimate hookup, though, is one of the reasons that we’re drawn back to this romance, no matter what the form, over and over again. Even this version has the power to elicit the usual teary-eyed joy — as long as you stay alert and keep up.
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tephen Sondheim claims that his Tony Award-winning Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street isn’t about cannibalism. Musical Theater Heritage’s George Harter told an audience last weekend that the story of the murderous barber, whose customers become key ingredients in a meat-pie recipe, is Sondheim’s “horror movie for the stage.” (It’s also, Harter added, Sondheim’s homage to Bernard Herrmann, who composed the score for Taxi
N OW P L AY I N G UMKC A Winter’s Tale
UMKC’s Theatre Department closes its 2011–12 season with Shakespeare’s romantic story of love, passion and jealousy involving King Leontes; his wife, Hermione; his friend, King Polixenes; and, as always with Shakespeare, many supporting characters. Faculty member Barry Kyle directs the classic with a more contemporary take. It plays April 26-28 at 7:30 p.m. and April 29 at 2 p.m. Call 816-235-6222 for tickets, which cost $15. The play is performed at the Spencer Theatre’s Olson PAC (4949 Cherry).
Johnson County Community College The Spitfire Grill
Based on a film by Lee David Zlotoff, this musical played off-Broadway and has seen hundreds of regional productions. A folk and bluegrass score infuses the story of a young woman beginning a new life in a depressed rural town in Wisconsin, at Hannah’s Spitfire Grill. The student production is free and open to the public, with seats first-come, first-served in the Carlsen Center’s Polsky Theater (12345 College Boulevard, Overland Park) April 27–28 at 7:30 p.m. or at 2 p.m. April 28–29. It also plays next weekend.
Driver and numerous Alfred Hitchcock films, including Psycho.) Sarah Crawford directs an 18-member cast and a seven-piece orchestra (Jeremy Watson plays piano and conducts), and Don Richard stars as the title character, a man who has turned into a bitter, vengeful monster seeking a misguided salvation. Sondheim’s songs drive this story with force and excitement (and with sentiment in the ballads). Without a set, Richard and co-star, Cathy Barnett (as Mrs. Lovett), both outstanding, lead an expanded reading. Cast members sit upstage, in front of the orchestra, performing at a row of microphones when their parts are in play. Half make up the chorus, lending support to a strong cast that includes Brittanie Bagby Baker, Nathan Bovos, Jacob Aaron Cullum, Katie Karel, Bryan LaFave, Mark Poppleton and Julie Shaw. There are costumes (including a clever use of red ties to depict blood), choreography and dramatic use of lighting (designed by Shane Rowse), but — unlike the overstuffed 2007 Tim Burton screen adaptation — the sanguinary aesthetic isn’t the whole point. As usual, MTH focuses on the music and words, and even at this scale the show is lively, engaging — and suspenseful. And you have till Sunday to see it.
E-mail deborah.hirsch@pitch.com
AU D I T I O N Lyric Opera of Kansas City The Barber of Seville
Unlike the deranged Sweeney Todd, this barber is sociable. And he’s into helping — not hurting — his cohorts. (He’s way less damaged.) You have just two more opportunities to see this popular light opera at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts (1601 Broadway): April 27 at 7:30 p.m. and April 29 at 2 p.m. It’s sung in Italian with English subtitles. But you’ll keep track of the story just fine — just listen to the beautiful music and follow the action. For tickets, call 816-471-7344 or see kcopera.org.
The Western Playhouse Summer Theater
A new professional summer-theater company, hosted by Missouri Western State University’s Western Institute, is holding auditions for its fi rst season Saturday, April 28, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Fishtank Performance Studio (1715 Wyandotte). Those auditioning must prepare a one-minute comedic monologue and/or a selection from a traditional musical-theater song. See westernplayhouse.com for more information and to reserve a time slot.
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