Pride and Prejudice Lakewood Playhouse Review



Pride and Prejudice Lakewood Playhouse Review, Lakewood playhouse review Lakewood, Washington.Pride and Prejudice Lakewood Playhouse Review, Lakewood playhouse review Lakewood, Washington.Pride and Prejudice Lakewood Playhouse Review, Lakewood playhouse review Lakewood, Washington.

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Pride and Prejudice Lakewood Playhouse Review, Lakewood playhouse review Lakewood, Washington.

Pride and Prejudice Lakewood Playhouse Review
by Peg Doman

Pride and Prejudice lives again with all its charm and humor

IN FOREGROUND: (L) Jacob Tice (Mr. Darcy) & (R) Tony Onorati Mr. Bingley) - Photo by KATE PATERNO-LICK.We went to opening night of Lakewood Playhouse’s production of a favorite Jane Austen book: Pride and Prejudice. P&P is one of my favorite books, first read in 9th grade and loved ever since. We’ve seen the Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier movie, the Colin Firth movie, the Kiera Knightly movie, the Book-It production and the PBS/BBC/A&E productions and loved them all. We love our Jane and love the LP presentation.

This is Lakewood Playhouse’s 75th year of presenting theater and the second offering of their season did not disappoint; it was so much fun. (The first was Arsenic and Old Lace, another favorite.) LP uses an adaptation by Joseph Hanreddy and J.R. Sullivan. It had a few differences that brought comparisons to other productions, not unfavorable, just a few differences.

Blake York’s scenic design was so simple but didn’t lack anything. The elaborate movie/TV sets were not missed. A portion of the floor was a painted in a creamy-white with a quote or two written in light blue in the classic copperplate lettering of the time. The furniture consisted of seven classic chairs with different backs, and one round table on casters; all pieces were painted white. The furniture was moved and taken on and off by the actors, as the next scene was set up.

(L) Rachael Dill Boyer (Elizabeth Bennet)  & (R) Elana Easley (Jane Bennet) - Photo by KATE PATERNO-LICK.Director Casi Wilkerson decided that all the action that uses props be mimed; serving fruit from baskets, embroidering a cloth, drinking tea, playing cards or having a cup of punch at the balls, all were mimed. This simple frame for the action was very effective, allowing your imagination to provide the items appropriate to what your vision of what the settings should be.

The actors were superb. The lead characters, starting with the Bennets, include Mr. Bennet (Steve Tarry), Mrs. Bennett (Shelleigh-Mairi Ferguson), Elizabeth (Rachel Boyer), Jane (Elena Easley), Mary (Christa Knickbocker), and the feckless duo Lydia and Kitty (Olivia Barry and Heather Smith) have all their own idiosyncrasies: Dad – sardonic, Mom – prone to shrieking and panic; Lizzie – sensible and not afraid to speak up; Jane – beautiful and very reserved outside the family; Mary – pendantic and fussy while appearing to be very sensible, loving to show off her pianoforte musciaship; Kitty and Lydia – very silly, overly giggly and man crazy. Lydia has the added trait of not being in touch with reality; she doesn’t realize how close her impulsiveness has driven the family to the brink of disrespectability. She actually sees herself as the star of a most romantic tale, as opposed to the truth that she’s run off, without benefit of the prospect of marriage, with a blackguard and cad who has no interest in doing the expected thing by marrying her, the girl he’s debauched. Mr. Bennet’s brother, Mr. Gardiner (James Wrede) and his wife (Cat Hayes) who put their fortune and generosity at stake to rescue their foolish niece are pragmatic and loyal. Then there’s the obsequious Mr. Collins (Paul Rickter), Mr. Bennet’s nephew who will inherit the family home when to older man dies, by terms of Mr. Bennet’s father’s will. The Lucas family, neighbors of the Bennets, include: Sir William Lucas (James Wrede, also Mr. Gardiner), Lady Lucas (Virginia Yanoff) and their daughter Charlotte (Katelyn Hoffman), a friend of the older Bennett girls, who, because of her plainness, doesn’t have many prospects for marriage.

(L) Rachael Dill Boyer (Elizabeth Bennet) & Annie Coleman (Caroline Bingley) - Photo by KATE PATERNO-LICK.The suitors and their families are the next group: Mr. Bingley (Tony Onorati), the sweet natured, easily swayed suitor who turns away from sweet Jane at Darcy’s urging; Bingley’s sister Caroline (Annie Coleman), a very proud and condescending woman who uses courtesy to convey her distain; Mr. Darcy (Jacob Tice), literally the dark horse, who has what he considers a justifiably excessive pride in his lineage, his family’s accomplishments and lands; Georgiana (Sydney Payne), the 16 year-old sister of Darcy, who is an accomplished musician and an innocent who was almost ruined by the same Mr. Wickham (Mason Quinn). Wickham publicly blames Darcy for his descent lower and lower into ignominy which is through his own decisions.

Rachael Dill Boyer (Elizabeth Bennet) - Photo by KATE PATERNO-LICK.The story is familiar because of all the productions illuminating the Bennet family’s crises. Mr. Collins’ demeaning proposal to Jane, which she turns down because he makes her skin crawl, is resolved when practical Charlotte accepts his next proposal and goes to his “living” as a parson at Rosings Park, the estate owned by Lady Catherine de Bourgh (Lee Ryan). She is neighbor to Darcy’s Pemberley estate. Lady Catherine had determined, while they were in their cradles, that Darcy would marry her daughter Anne and unite the two estates. Anne is chronically ill and appears to be consumptive; Darcy has never considered her as a marriage partner.

The characters are so finely drawn by Austen that they have lives of their own, independent of the plays and movies that have been produced. They each are predictable because of their familiarity, this is a fun production.

Pride and Prejudice runs through December 1, 2013 at the Lakewood Playhouse at 5729 Lakewood Towne Center Blvd SW. Go online at lakewoodplayhouse.org or call the box office at 253-588-0042 for information and tickets to see this wonderful production.


Tony Onorati (Mr. Bingley) & (R) Elana Easley (Jane Bennet) - Photo by KATE PATERNO-LICK.


Pride and Prejudice Lakewood Playhouse Review, Lakewood playhouse review Lakewood, Washington.

Pride and Prejudice Lakewood Playhouse Review, Lakewood playhouse review Lakewood, Washington.
















Pride and Prejudice Lakewood Playhouse Review, Lakewood playhouse review Lakewood, Washington.