On Stage This Week" "Pride and Prejudice"

Here's a fine story by my pal Dave Lavender about the latest show from Marshall's Theatre Alliance:

The elegant stage at the Joan C. Edwards Playhouse is set for all the pomp and twirl of a formal 19th century English ball, yet when the chamber orchestra plays, out flows a steady beat of Coldplay, Lady Gaga and even some early Michael Jackson, as the stage full of costumed dancers gracefully move.

No, this is not your grandmother’s dusty version of Pride and Prejudice.

Breathing life into a crisp and flowing 2006 stage adaptation by Jon Jory (of the renowned Actor’s Theatre of Louisville), the Marshall University Department of Theatre has this dance with Jane Austen’s timeless romantic novel, Pride and Prejudice.

Starring such Marshall University students as Chelsea Sanders as Elizabeth, Nathan Mohebbi as Mr. Darcy and Chase Likens (fresh back from American Idol) as Mr. Wickham, the play runs at 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 18 through Saturday, April 21 at the Joan C. Edwards Performing Arts Center.

Tickets are $20; $15 faculty or seniors and $5 for children under 12 and free to full-time Marshall students with valid ID.

Sanders, a fan of Jane Austen’s classic coming-of-age tales since her early school days, said while she at first approached the new adaptation with a hint of trepidation, she has fallen for the new working of Pride and Prejudice, which has sold more than 20 million copies since it was written in 1813.

“This role is kind of like a little senior gem because I was such a big Jane Austen fan,” Sanders said. “I got really mad at first, like this wasn’t in the book, but after much time and prayer over it, I’ve grown to love it, and there are places in the play that I wished were in the book. I love that I get to play this whimsical romantic being who is also a strong woman. To me that is a strong coupling that can’t be compared to.”

The play, which Sanders sells as a “good chick flick for women and an easy date for men,” follows the smart and sassy Elizabeth Bennett and her four sisters as they navigate the waters of love prompted by an overzealous match-making mother, (played by Annie Fletcher) and a string of unsuitable suitors.

Not looking for a suitor the independent-minded Elizabeth meets the equally headstrong Mr. Darcy and the plot thickens.

Director Nicole Perrone said the fast-moving, romance-and-dance-filled play should have a wide appeal to both students and the community.

“I hope they don’t have the expectations that this is going to be like going to a museum. It is rather a living thing that is relevant,” Perrone said of the play. “Jon Jory’s adaptation has I think a contemporary edge to it. It is written to move very quickly and it is definitely written for the stage and can be abstract in places. He has preserved all the most beloved scenes from the book and reinvented it in a way that really fits the stage.”

Perrone, who choreographed the show with Josh Meredith, said this large cast show (with nearly 20 actors) and one filled with so much dance was a perfect fit in the Marshall Theatre Alliance season coming on the heels of the small edgy show, Proof.

“This is basically our lab and we we are trying to take what we are doing in the classroom and apply it down here,” Perrone said. “It’s a great play, and this show represented some opportunities for dialect work and we just had a dialect class last spring so we’re applying what they are learning here. Also there is a lot of period dance and movement in this piece. We do eight or nine 19th century English country dances that have all been researched.”

That bounty of movement is accentuated on stage with Lang Reynolds’ airy and versatile set and lighting design that uses floor-to-ceiling white sheer curtains to create silhouettes and that seems to magnify every stage movement.

Interestingly, Likens said he was originally cast for Mr. Wickham, but was on the fence about having to punt the role due to his run on American Idol.

When that run ended, understudy Patrick Taylor, who had just starred in Proof, and who plays Sir. Lucas/the officer and ensemble, let Likens back in his original role.

“I think that was the best decision to come back and get right into something,” Likens said. “Nicole and the rest of the theater department embraced me with open arms and I was very grateful for that.”

Likens said he feels Pride and Prejudice, is truly a story for all times.

“I think it speaks for all times in that it is a love story — when you get to the nitty gritty of it, and that is what everybody loves to see,” Likens said. “Even in the most popular songs today it is always about a love song — the archetypal story — man falls in love with woman, woman doesn’t want man, but something winds up together and end up living happily ever after.”