EMMA: The Romantic Musical Comedy of the Year
EMMA
Reviewed by Jeffrey R Smith of the San Francisco Bay Area Critics Circle
When someone invites you to get in at the ground floor, it is usually a ne'er do well, panhandling relative, using the occasion of a wedding, funeral or bar mitzvah, to invite you to join his Ponzi scheme or Pyramid scam.
Or more likely yet, it is a liberal arts in-law, who has not yet to come to grips with the fact that he may have to get a real job or else continue building his on-line astrological prognostication empire from a trailer park in South Dakota or a sod hut in Kansas.
Fortunately the ground floor in literature or the performing arts means something entirely different.
Getting in at the ground floor in literature means, you as a book browser, picked up a hard cover, first edition of GRAVITY'S RAINBOW back in 1974 or bought TROUT FISHING IN AMERICA back in 1967.
Or, it means you saw the ROCKY HORROR SHOW back when it was onstage in London in 1973 or Tom Stoppard's TRAVESTIES in 1975.
Or, you caught JEFFERSON AIRPLANE at the Fillmore in 1966.
Unless you are a time traveler, all those prescient windows of opportunity have slammed shut.
But you still have a chance.
Theatre Works is boldly world premiering Paul Gordon's latest romantic musical comedy: EMMA.
When one watches such musical classics as MY FAIR LADY, A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, EVITA, PORGY AND BESS or KISS ME KATE, one might ask oneself, "What will be the next musical to equal one of these masterpieces?" or, "Would I even recognize the birth a new classic?"
EMMA is without a doubt the most delightful musical to hit a bay area stage in years.
As one overwhelmed critic remarked to cast member Timothy Gulan (MR KNIGHTLEY), "If the public ever gets an inkling as to how enjoyable this show is, there will never be an empty seat in the house."
Unequivocally, the namesake star of the show is the flawlessly beautiful, regally poised and radiantly effusive Lianne Marie Dobbs.
Miss Dobbs vocal skills reach the empyrean: she sings with a composed, easy, mellifluous grace that communicates sweetly and clearly with her enraptured audience.
Recrafting the novel by Jane Austen into a script, Paul Gordon has brought the wry wit of Austen up to the gleaming genius level of Shaw or Wilde or Noel Coward.
Given the stunning performance of Miss Dobbs and the strength of her character, Timothy Gulan has the prodigious challenge creating a credible Mister Knightley capable of holding a taper to Emma's charm and wit.
And, MR Gulan succeeds—in spades one might add: in the closing minutes of the show, the audience is viscerally urging the two reluctant lovers to confess their love for each other.
If grades were given to the essential elements of a show, Costume Designer Fumiko Bielefeldt would earn an A+ and a fashion spa in Milano, Sound Designer Cliff Caruthers would max out on points and have a speaker system named in his honor, and Scenic Designer Joe Ragey would get a perfect score plus a photo spread in BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS.
This show, Theatre Works 50th World Premiere, is really going places.
Years from now, your philistine neighbors will be telling you to go see EMMA—the road show production—at the hoi polloi Curran Theatre.
If you play your cards right, you be able to retort politely, "I saw EMMA when it world premiered at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts . . . I think that was back in 2007."
To get in on the ground floor of this most delightful and enchanting show, visit the web site at www.theatreworks.org or call the box office at 650-463-1960.
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