Review
The Importance of Being Earnest
By Oscar Wilde; Directed by Brian Bedford
Broadway, Play Revival
Extended through 6.26.11
American Airlines Theatre; 227 West 42nd St.
Sara Topham, David Furr and Brian Bedford in The Importance of Being Earnest. Photo by Joan Marcus.
BOTTOM LINE: A timeless classic gets the royal treatment in this hilarious revival.
If there was ever a doubt that Oscar Wilde's 1895 comedy The Importance of Being Earnest is a timeless classic, the current Roundabout Theatre Company production erases any such skepticism. In the assured hands of director/star Brian Bedford and his excellent cast, the play is as funny and wise as ever. Earnest playfully skewers not only the Victorian society in which it is set, but the perennial fickleness of human nature. Even for harried, media-saturated, 21st century New Yorkers, the laughs of recognition are all there; and if there are few surprises in this faithful production, that is just as Mr. Bedford intends. Why trifle with perfection?
Wilde's great genius is his keen understanding of the paradoxical quality of life. Worldliness or spirituality? Pleasure or duty? Seriousness or triviality? Most of us live somewhere in between, though we may try to present masks of consistency and conformity to the world. Wilde himself lived a notoriously double life, and paid a heavy price for flouting his society's rigid code of behavior. Fortunately the people in Earnest suffer no such punishment. The course of true love may not run smooth, but it does end happily.
On the bumpy road to connubial bliss there are countless witty aphorisms, non-sequiturs, contradictions and much utter nonsense, tied together by the most preposterous of plots. Yet undergirding the apparent frivolity is a sturdy dramatic construction and a profound sympathy with the outwardly ridiculous characters. Witness the accurate, if twisted, human logic of Gwendolen's line, "If you are not too long, I will wait here for you all my life." Or Cecily's accusation of Algernon, "I hope you have not been leading a double life, pretending to be wicked and being really good all the time. That would be hypocrisy."
Many of the plays' best lines are reserved for the "Gorgon" Lady Bracknell, played here with consummate skill and nuance by Mr. Bedford himself. The biggest laugh the night I saw the show was her line "Never speak disrespectfully of society…only people who can't get into it do that." Obviously the well-heeled Broadway audience could relate. To his credit, Bedford plays the role in a heightened but not exaggerated style, working seamlessly with his well-chosen ensemble.
And what a stellar ensemble it is. Dana Ivey's divine Miss Prism makes me want to see her as Lady Bracknell — or in just about any role for that matter. Paxton Whitehead is delightfully daffy as Rev. Chasuble. David Furr as Jack, Santino Fontana as Algernon and Sara Topham as Gwendolen are pitch-perfect. As Cecily, Charlotte Parry sparkles with intelligent, effervescent charm.
There are a few directorial missteps: Bedford has the actors make some moments explicit which would be far funnier if left implicit. Desmond Heeley's costumes are dazzling but his sets have a strangely dull, flat quality. These are merely quibbles, however, with what is overall a first-rate, if not entirely sublime, production. The biggest gift is the play itself. While other "classics" have cloyed with time, becoming stale chestnuts, hackneyed warhorses, or worse, The Importance of Being Earnest remains not only entertaining but relevant.
(The Importance of Being Earnest has been extended through June 26, 2011 at the American Airlines Theatre, 227 West 42nd Street. Performances are Tuesdays at 8PM, Wednesdays at 2PM and 8PM, Thursdays and Fridays at 8PM, Saturdays at 2PM and 8PM, and Sundays at 2PM. Tickets are $72-$122 and are available by calling Roundabout Ticket Services at 212.719.1300, online at roundabouttheatre.org or at the box office. Get discounted tickets for $47-$77 with code IBBBOX3 through February 20, 2011.)