Cindy C. wrote to tell us that she finally got to see the Asolo Repertory’s stage production of Pride and Prejudice, and has posted her review on her Livejournal.

I would encourage any JA fan in the area to go, to a matinee if you must. Yes, some of the dialogue is turned around, but not to the point where you sit there and say “huh?” And some things, for the sake of expediency, are shortened or combined, but not enough to totally annoy any good student of P&P. Our critic said there was too much narration for his liking, and I did find that a bit irritating toward the end (Lizzy is the narrator), but overall, it was fun.

That said, I was in the ladies’ room at intermission (which is short) and overheard girls from my son’s school. They all agreed that the actress playing Elizabeth was much too old for the role. “What is she supposed to be, like 23?” one of them asked another. “I think she looks closer to 30!” Which is old for teenage girls. The actress actually looks and sounds like a young Kathleen Turner. My son, Jon, said her voice was too low for Lizzy.

The standouts among the cast were Mr. Collins (who had the bandiest legs!), Mr. Bennet and his sarcasm, which the kids loved, getting all his little snide remarks, and Mrs. Bennet. The students seemed to enjoy her nerves as much as she did. The Bennet parents also got one of the best laughs of the day, even before the punchline, during the “An unhappy alternative is before you” scene.

This made us wonder why we didn’t get such good field trips at our Young Ladies’ Seminary of Higher Education….

There’s nothing like watching the show with a couple hundred teenagers to make one smile. All the girls wanted Lizzy to say ‘yes’ at Hunsford, and they were quite vocal about it, too. And Hunsford was in two parts. We see Darcy tell Lizzy that he ardently admires and loves her, and then there is intermission. The second act opens with the two still in discussion, and there were many audible sighs when Darcy got down on one knee.

And there was eye candy for all - Lydia’s gowns showed quite a bit of cleavage from where we were seated on the mezzanine level, and the roll-on bed platform also shows Lydia and Wickham living together in London. Both are partially undressed and Lydia climbs into bed with him as the platform is pulled back into the wings. That got a lot of catcalls. And btw, Wickham shows every outline of his body in his regimentals, if you know what I mean….

Oh, we think we do!