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South Coast Rep’s revival of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance Of Being Earnest is
a production full of color, imagination, and panache. (Note: For those in need
of a summary of the oft performed comedy of manners, click here for a
Wikipedia synopsis.) Director Warner Shook’s original vision for Earnest is evident
from the moment the audience first sets sight on Michael Olich’s gorgeous non-
literal set design. The Segerstrom Stage is ablaze with rich blue-greens and
reds, colorful Persian rugs, a handsomely brocaded divan and armchair, and a
leopard rug center stage, head intact, and not a wall in sight. Nephelie
Andoyadis’s costumes are the epitome of elegance, and match the set’s color
scheme, which by the way changes for each of the play’s three acts.
We know we are in for something special when, at lights up, we see Algernon
playing the piano (yes, he’s actually playing it) on an upstage platform which
revolves, turning into the backdrop of Algernon’s London flat as Algie moves
downstage and plops himself down on the divan, elegance and panache
personified.
Algernon and his dear friend Earnest aka Jack are about as different as two
gentlemen can be. Andoyadis costumes the former in vibrant flamboyant
duds, the latter in sedate cream. Algie’s hair is long and wavy (as was Wilde’s)
while Jack’s is cut short and dignified, and he sports a conservative mustache.
Where Algie’s every move is choreographed to attract attention, Jack’s body
language is the definition of dignity and restraint.
Director Shook’s inventive touches are everywhere—in the way Algernon slaps
Jack’s hand when he dares to take one of Gwendolyn’s cucumber
sandwiches, in the veiled garb of woe Jack wears for his Act 2 entrance, in a
handshake between Algie and Jack which turns into a death grip, in the
HUGE slab of cake which Cecily offers Gwendolyn, and in the way that the
two women and Algie gasp audibly (and with perfect simultaneousness) upon
hearing Jack’s revelation that “I have no brother Earnest.” There’s also a
sensational Act 3 opening with a ukulele-playing Algernon and Jack joined by
butler and footman to serenade Gwendolyn and Cecily in four-part harmony.
Oh, and pay attention to the way Cecily bellows back Algie’s words to Lady
Bracknell as if to a deaf person, simply because Lady B. asked “I beg your
pardon?”
A running gag is that whenever Algernon’s servant Lane is asked to bring
something to Jack, a cigarette case for example, he already has it in hand, as
if having read his master’s mind. In the same way, rather than go to a
bookcase and search for the appropriate volume of military records for a
revelatory Act 3 moment, Algernon conveniently pulls a huge tome from
under the table behind which he stands, which just happens to be just the
right volume and then, just when he’s about to reach the pivotal name
Moncrieff, discovers that he has come to the bottom of the page. Oh, the
suspense!
The cast which director Shook has assembled is, to risk hyperbole, sheer
perfection, beginning with Kandis Chappell’s dryly imperious Lady Bracknell,
never once giving in to the risky allure of caricature. Michael Gotch’s Algernon
is the flamboyant and supremely witty Oscar Wilde himself come to life, in a
more virile and handsome incarnation. Tommy Schrider is equally good as
Jack, uptight and reserved where Algernon is exuberant and larger-than-life.
Christine Marie Brown is a spunky delight as Gwendolyn. Watch when even
just saying the name Earnest makes Brown’s Gwendolyn literally vibrate. Elise
Hunt’s outwardly sweet and retiring Cecily conceals fires under the surface,
which nearly get her into a catfight with Gwendolyn. Amelia White, looking
like a cross between Amzie Strickland and Pert Kelton, is an appropriately
frazzled Miss Prism, and Richard Doyle’s Reverend Chasuble’s delivery is as
funny as his Professor Irwin Corey hair. Bryan Vickery, in what would normally be
a walk-on role as the footman, gets to harmonize with Algie, Jack, and butler
to ukulele accompaniment here. Finally, milking every moment as both butlers
(Lane and Merriman) is 35-year South Coast Rep vet John-David Keller. Where
Lane is unhurried dignity incarnate, Merriman is never not in a rush, always
scurrying in as if he had breaking news to report, unable to stand still without
twitching his legs as if he needed to make an urgent trip to the gentlemen’s
room.
If clothes make the man (and woman), then Andoyadis’ costumes are a clear
reflection of this truth, besides being gorgeous visions each and every one.
Gwendolyn first appears wearing a stunning lime green gown, Lady Bracknell
garbed in vivid rose and cream. Not coincidentally, Gwendolyn’s Act 2 gown
is made in the same rose hues, and we see that she is indeed her mother’s
daughter. Cecily, with her long blonde hair and pale blue frock, looks just like
Alice In Wonderland.
Lap-Chi Chu’s superior lighting design includes a particularly lovely effect in
Act 2 of the entire stage being bathed in sunlight shining through trees. The
uncredited sound design incorporates exaggerated effects, such as a
deliciously sepulchral doorbell and some over-the-top offstage racket as Jack
searches for the handbag in which he was discovered as an infant. Michael
Roth’s music/musical direction adds yet another special touch to this very
special production.
For those in the audience who have seen a production of The Importance Of
Being Earnest before (and what adult theatergoer hasn’t?), South Coast
Rep’s revival is certain to enchant. Younger audience members, and there
were many of them on Sunday, seemed equally as captivated. There may be
other Earnests on the horizon, but that is no excuse to miss this one, which sets
the bar very high indeed for future productions.
South Coast Repertory, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. Through March 9.
Tuesday and Wednesday evenings at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Friday and Saturday
evenings at 8:00 p.m., Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:30 p.m., and Sunday
evenings at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets: www.scr.org, by phone at (714) 708-5555
--Steven Stanley
February 17, 2008
Photos: Henry DiRocco
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