{"id":244176,"date":"2011-02-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-02-06T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/old-globe-review-emma\/"},"modified":"2011-02-06T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-02-06T08:00:00","slug":"old-globe-review-emma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/old-globe-review-emma\/","title":{"rendered":"Old Globe Review: ‘Emma’"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Patricia Morris Buckley\u00a0 | SDUN Theatre Critic<\/strong><\/p>\n

You don\u2019t have to be a Jane Austen fan to fall in love with the new musical \u201cEmma\u201d at the Old Globe Theatre.<\/p>\n

As far as Austen fare goes, \u201cEmma\u201d ranks third after her \u201cPride and Prejudice\u201d and \u201cSense and Sensibility.\u201d That\u2019s because \u201cEmma\u201d is a little more predictable and the title character is a little on the shallow side (which is what Austen intended). Still, it\u2019s been given the Hollywood treatment several times, including once with Gwyneth (I-can-do-a-great-English-accent) Paltrow in the title role.<\/p>\n

And if there\u2019s a perfect Austen to be given the musical treatment, it\u2019s this one. It follows traditional musical form\u2014upper class girl gets boy, girl doesn\u2019t really want boy, girl finds boy she really does love. Love, after all, is just another amusing lark for her.<\/p>\n

Emma is a rather spoiled girl who, after helping her governess and friend marry, thinks of herself as a matchmaker. She decides to match the new vicar and selects her lowly born friend Harriet Smith. Trouble is, no one knows Harriet\u2019s parents (very important during the 1800s) and Harriet is already in love with the farmer Robert Martin. But Emma pushes her dream on Harriet, who is later crushed when the vicar proposes to Emma!<\/p>\n

Soon her house of romantic cards begins to tumble and Emma discovers what a mess she\u2019s made of things, especially in her own romantic entanglements.<\/p>\n

What makes a musical like this work is a strong lead in the female role and the Globe production certainly has that. Patti Murin\u2019s Emma is charming, sweet, a little too sure of herself and quite pretty. Murin also has the pure, sparkling voice not only pleasing to hear, but necessary for a musical where so much of the music is narrative, pushing the story forward without stopping for a pretty tune.<\/p>\n

While there\u2019s no one else in the cast that really stand outs above the rest, it\u2019s a very strong group of actors who all have excellent voices. Emma couldn\u2019t keep better company.<\/p>\n

Director and choreographer Jeff Calhoun has just the right light touch, never forgetting this is a butterfly of a play, not a grounded caterpillar. He infuses it with humor, heart and a sly, gossip-tinged flavor and the result is divine.<\/p>\n

There is one other star of the production and that\u2019s Tobin Ost\u2019s spectacular set, which is a rich green hedge-maze on a slope, surrounded by white columns and an ultra-blue sky. It\u2019s just so pretty to look at that the actors must be a bit jealous.<\/p>\n

Paul Gordon, who won a 2002 Tony for the music and lyrics of \u201cJane Eyre,\u201d has provided a witty book, and the music is definitely fun. Because the songs are so narrative, they aren\u2019t that hummable. However, certain motifs are delicious to hear again and again (such as Harriet\u2019s pining anthem for Robert Martin).<\/p>\n

The only place that has room for improvement is in the lyrics. There were several trite phrases, such as \u201cthe heart wants what it wants\u201d and \u201ctruth is stranger than fiction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also, Mr. Knightly sings a song about loving a woman and mentions \u201cskin against skin,\u201d which would be fine except he reprises the song when the said woman is next to him. Remember, this is a time when a lady didn\u2019t even use a man\u2019s first name until they were engaged.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s still time for fine-tuning, as this show is sure to have a long life. \u201cEmma,\u201d which premiered in Palo Alto in 2007, is most assuredly moving towards New York. There, many more theatergoers are sure to fall in love with \u201cEmma,\u201d Austen fans or not.<\/p>\n

When: Through Mar. 6<\/p>\n

Where: Old Globe Theatre, Balboa Park<\/p>\n

Tickets: $39-$94<\/p>\n

Info: (619) 23-GLOBE<\/p>\n

Web: theoldglobe.org<\/p>\n

\"Old<\/a>
Adam Monley as Mr. Knightley and Patti Murin as Emma Woodhouse star in Jane Austen's \u201cEmma,\u201d directed by Jeff Calhoun with music, lyrics and book by Paul Gordon, at The Old Globe now through Mar. 6. (Photo by Henry DiRocco.) <\/figcaption><\/figure>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Patricia Morris Buckley\u00a0 | SDUN Theatre Critic You don\u2019t have to be a Jane Austen fan to fall in love with the new musical \u201cEmma\u201d at the Old Globe Theatre. As far as Austen fare goes, \u201cEmma\u201d ranks third after her \u201cPride and Prejudice\u201d and \u201cSense and Sensibility.\u201d That\u2019s because \u201cEmma\u201d is a little […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1295,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Old Globe Review: 'Emma'","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-244176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1295"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244176\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}