Meta Pride
The Philadelphia Inquirer has reviewed AUSTENTATIOUS, currently playing as part of the Philly Fringe Festival.
This funny, well-sung show’s title, Austentatious: Pride and Prejudice, the Musical is amended in the program’s graphics to “no Pride and extreme Prejudice,” and they sure do murder Jane Austen’s novel. 11th Hour, specializing in contemporary musical theater (last season’s hit, tick…tick…Boom! was their debut), is young and full of energy and talent; once again Megan Nicole O’Brien directs with skill and wit.
Austentatious follows an amateur, small-town theater group through auditions, rehearsals and the opening night of a ridiculous adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. It also follows them through their romantic bust-ups, not to mention their ever-popular hopes and dreams. The dialogue isn’t nearly as clever as the lyrics, but just when you’re sitting through improv exercises (”be an animal”) thinking this is really stupid, they burst into song, singing, “This is really stupid.”
The director (the excellent Robert McClure) speaks in incomplete metaphors, declaring “I am not encumbered by character and text.”
Well, he wouldn’t be the first.
The stage manager (Kim Carson) is sweet-voiced and sweet-faced and underappreciated, and, like stage managers the world over, saves the day. This is clearly an insider’s show.
The rest of the cast (Mathilda McCommon, Alex Kniper, Justin Klinger, Nina Donze and William Vasseler), armed with good voices and stage faces, provide a big show. The only flaw (as is so often the case in the Fringe) is the venue: cabaret tables provide terrible sightlines, so get there early and sit up front.
Sounds like a great time!
