Engaged
It's a wonder W.S. Gilbert's spirited, savvy comedy (1877) hasn't been done more often. It's a wacko parody of romances and their complications. Gilbert (working without collaborator Sir Arthur Sullivan) trumps the genre by having young, wealthy Cheviot Hill juggle three prospective brides (four, if you count the maid) simultaneously. Cheviot may have performed a "Scottish marriage" (a non-ceremony ceremony) without knowing it. Entanglements ensue. Along with giving the play a smart staging, director Welton Jones found a promising newcomer to play Cheviot. Sam Zetumer combines an appropriate, rhetorical, yet impassioned vocal style with commedia-like movements and makes the chronic wooer a hoot. Sarah Hunter, Calandra Crane, and Bernadette Ralphs, as the trio of woo-ees, head a game cast. George Weinberg-Harter's hand-painted flats (from Scottish highlands to St. Paul's Cathedral) have appeal. And Pam Stompoly's fine costumes look as if she worked with a carte blanche budget.
Worth a try.
When
Ongoing until Sunday, June 27, 2010
Hours
| Sundays, 8pm |
| Fridays, 8pm |
| Saturdays, 8pm |