“A babelicious Auntie Mame”
The first review is in of the musical production of Emma at Theatreworks in California.
Lianne Marie Dobbs couldn’t be a more scrumptious Emma, the 21-year-old landowner’s daughter whose advice wreaks havoc for anyone who admires her.
Dobbs plays Emma as more of a hurricane than a spring shower, a babelicious Auntie Mame.
Hee! One can rather imagine Miss Woodhouse saying “Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death!” Though perhaps not in those exact words.
Timothy Gulan doesn’t fade into the woodwork long as Mr. Knightley, Emma’s brother-in-law and longtime pal. He complements Emma more with every insult, the wise-guy she needs more than she needs Mr. Churchill. As the leading mouthpiece for Gordon, Gulan gets a lot of the best lyrics, which are witty and full of great interior rhyming. The latter is also a component of the title song, to which Gulan imparts the longing no one was sure was part of the Knightley character, to a tune reminiscent of Jeffrey Osborne’s “On the Wings of Love.”:
“Emma, the heart wants what it wants./And it haunts me constantly when I’m with you./Emma, my soul lies at your feet./I have been discreet but now I’m overdue.”
You’ll hear that at the wedding of more than one Emma, I reckon.
Oh, we want to see this now.
August 27th, 2007 at 5:36 am
I saw the Emma production in Mountain View last night and
thought I’d give my impressions.
The two leads did fine jobs. The actress playing Emma shows
sparkling confidence in every gesture and has a fine singing
voice, and Mr. Knightley is an engaging foil.
The biggest surprise to me was the Harriet character. She
has the expected naivete and malleability early on, but then
starts adding sardonic commentary to many of her misfortunes,
and uses some rather modern humor (though enjoyable—she has
some of the best lines in the play). The scene in which
Mr. Elton refuses to dance with her is a hoot, and the
“humiliation” musical theme becomes a running gag.
Oddly, Robert Martin is portrayed as something of a bumpkin.
I always had the impression of dignity there, and Knightley’s
high regard is plain in the book. But the play shows him as
unsteady and lovestruck, decreasing, I suppose, our sense of
what Harriet gains in the eventual marriage.
Random notes: in the play Emma has the idea for the Crown Inn
ball, not Frank; there is waltzing at said ball; we never get
to Donwell, and the strawberries are transplanted to
Hartfield (though Jane’s angst is omitted); there is no
“courtship” word game, but Mr. Elton has ample other
opportunities to show the audience his preference for Emma
(though the actual proposal takes place at Hartfield,
since I guess carriages would be awkward for staging).
Highly recommended.
Incidentally, I don’t suppose there’s any relation between
the actress playing Emma, Lianne Marie Dobbs, and the
Marie Dobbs who wrote the Sanditon completion?