The Utah Shakespearean Festival is experiencing another successful and, from what I saw, sold out season. The summer season consists of six plays: a musical version of Great Expectations based on the Dickens classic, a stage version of Pride and Prejudice, The 39 Steps, Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing, and The Merchant of Venice.
As the Festival advances towards its 50th season next year, the fare has gotten progressively more challenging and, with an eye towards productions outside the Festival, premieres of new works. Previously they produced a musical version of Lend Me a Tenor that is set to tour the provinces in Great Britain but with an English cast. This year the musical is Great Expectations, based on an adaptation by a ninth grade English teacher, Margaret Hoorneman, and assisted by Steve Lozier (book), a score by Richard Winzler, and Steve Lane's lyrics. Great Expectations is a mighty but sprawling tale about a boy named Pip as he makes his way in the world. The book was serialized, so it has lots of detours along the way. This adaptation does a pretty good job of harnessing the story. It plot has been further clarified from the previous tryout at the Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles.
There are a couple of holdovers from the Los Angeles outing, including a brilliant Ellen Crawford as Miss Havisham and a nice outing by L J Benet as Young Pip. In addition to these veterans the cast now includes a notable performance by Jack Noseworthy as Pip. He has a powerful rich voice and acts the role with sensitivity. Melinda Pfundstein makes a nice Biddy, Jeff Steitzer is wonderful as the clerk Wemmick, and Max Robinson makes a formidable Magwitch.
My reservations about the work remain the same as when I first saw the piece. The music is often lovely, using Sondheim, Bernstein, and even Lloyd Webber as models, but there are no standout songs and because there are so many musical numbers the scenes don’t get to develop through dialogue, so you get the story but not a lot of complexity.
Next I saw an adaptation for the stage of Jane Austen’s masterpiece, Pride and Prejudice. It is beautifully adapted by Joseph Hanreddy and J.R. Sullivan. Missed is the gorgeous scenery you get in other adaptations; the background acts like its own character. Characters tend to be reduced to a single characteristic, but the cast and director have done a brilliant job of capitalizing on these singular traits. This choice does help to bring out the humor in a piece that can get a bit sentimental.
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