“Regency Girls,” a brand new musical comedy set within the interval of Jane Austen’s novels, begins on a be aware that followers of “Pride and Prejudice” will savor.
The destiny of the Benton household is dependent upon discovering husbands for the 2 oldest daughters, Elinor (Isabelle McCalla) and Jane (Kate Rockwell), each of whom are being courted by rich scions. Misery ensues when these savior suitors, who’re certain for a yearlong voyage, fail to point out up on the appointed hour to bid the women farewell. However on the final minute they not solely seem however suggest, saving the Benton daughters from a destiny worse than spinsterhood: household insolvency.
A boisterously vivacious opening quantity, “A Happy Ending Beginning,” units the family into ecstatic movement early on in “Regency Girls,” which is having its world premiere at San Diego’s Outdated Globe. However comfortable endings aren’t meant to return firstly of romantic tales and the exuberance proves to be untimely.
Elinor, who appears modeled on Austen’s Elizabeth Bennet, does one thing her vigorous, clever and fiercely unbiased counterpart from “Pride and Prejudice” would by no means do: She will get pregnant earlier than her marriage ceremony day. On the evening of their engagement, Elinor and Stanton (a profitable Nik Walker) apparently succumbed to their ardour, and now that Stanton is at sea with Dingley (Gabe Gibbs), Jane’s horribly snooty fiancé, there appears little hope that Elinor’s scenario will be rectified by a rushed marriage ceremony.
Jane, way more standard than her older sister, can solely consider how Elinor’s shame will destroy her personal future. Haughty, hypocritical Dingley, she fears, received’t need something to do with the household as soon as this scandal goes viral, which within the Regency interval interprets right into a wildfire of whispering all through well mannered society.
Elinor finds an ally in her quick-thinking maid, Dabney (Krystina Alabado), who has a handbill itemizing the providers of Madame Restell (Janine LaManna), a London-based midwife who helps girls in misery. It’s not instantly clear why Dabney has this commercial, however Elinor discovers that she doesn’t must undergo this problem alone.
Petunia (Ryann Redmond), a married household pal exhausted by being pregnant and motherhood, volunteers to accompany Elinor to London. Jane, anxious to see that her sister’s awkward matter is discreetly dealt with, agrees to go too. And Dabney, suspiciously keen, insists that she be included, even when she has “to ride atop the luggage.”
Earlier than you realize it, “Regency Girls” transforms right into a rowdy street journey. Attempt to think about “Thelma & Louise” crossed with Austen’s romantic comedy of manners, “Bridgerton” and a few naughty sketch comedy, and also you’ll have an approximation of the melange the creators are trying.
The musical’s guide, written by Jennifer Crittenden and Gabrielle Allan, TV writers with illustrious comedy credit, trades freely in anachronisms for laughs. The rating follows swimsuit, with Curtis Moore’s music and Amanda Inexperienced’s lyrics establishing the interval taste solely to bust out in Broadway-style pop, rock and even hip-hop.
Regency women simply wish to have enjoyable, so why confine them to 1 specific style or historic epoch? Put them as an alternative in a slow-trotting carriage and see how far they’ll go.
The present is each genuinely humorous and unabashedly foolish, and director and choreographer Josh Rhodes has his arms full reining in a number of the sitcom dopiness. This “pre-Broadway engagement” reveals the manufacturing’s brilliant potential. Who may resist a musical comedy street journey celebrating lady energy? However the humor grows broader and extra ridiculous, as if scripted for amusing monitor.
Crittenden and Allan have vigorous imaginations, however the wild conditions they concoct are handled like joke machines. The introduction of Galloping Dick (Gibbs, energetically doing double responsibility), a Robin Hood-esque Lothario who excites Jane’s romantic curiosity on the street to London, pushes the zaniness into overdrive.
There are early indicators of buffoonery involving a maternal wig. And a cartoonish be aware is struck when Woman Catherine (LaManna, additionally pulling off a twin position), arrives on the scene. Stanton’s dragon aunt is up in arms that her nephew is engaged to Elinor when he’s already promised to one in all her two daughters, whose names and identities she will’t even preserve straight.
However all hell breaks free when Elinor and her crew uncover a chest of bondage toys and dominatrix accouterments throughout a very difficult second of their journey. At this level, the present crosses a Rubicon — or ought to I say jumps the shark? The gag, frantic to get an increase, runs roughshod over character and story.
Janine LaManna as Woman Catherine and Sav Souza as Scutter in “Regency Girls.”
(Jim Cox)
Some would possibly recognize the slide into burlesque greater than I did, however I used to be drawn to the complexity of the present’s protagonist, who, in noble Jane Austen custom, refuses to compromise her intelligence for the sake of males. In a brilliant, charismatic efficiency, McCalla’s Elinor brings to life the character’s brainy appeal and self-possession. She is the radiant middle of “Regency Girls.”
However don’t underestimate Alabado’s Dabney, the nimble-witted maid, who is simply too dazzlingly resourceful to not make her presence identified. Dealing with class prejudice together with gender oppression, she factors out simply how unequal English society occurs to be. Alabado’s beautiful portrayal elevates Dabney from servant to second protagonist.
Collectively, all the girls rise above their circumstances. Rockwell’s Jane and Redmond’s Petunia, whereas conceived in additional flamboyant comedian phrases, are granted their very own moments of self-discovery. Jane comes to grasp that marrying for cash isn’t half as satisfying as marrying for love, whereas Petunia assumes management over her personal sexuality, rejecting the concept she was born to be a child machine.
Isabelle McCalla and Nik Walker, middle, as Elinor and Stanton with the solid of “Regency Girls.”
(Jim Cox)
“Regency Girls” is the one musical comedy I can consider that features an abortionist as a key character. Madame Restell, who operates a clinic providing reproductive providers for girls, delivers “How Long (In 1810)?” a strong anthem decrying “the holy war” the patriarchy is waging towards feminine autonomy. She will be able to’t imagine this militant opposition remains to be taking place in 1810, although she would possibly as nicely be singing about 2025, so persistent are the parallels.
LaManna brings down the home in a quantity that spells out what’s at stake within the musical. Marriage could be the all-consuming obsession, however “Regency Girls” makes clear that self-determination is actually what these adventurous younger girls are combating for.
The manufacturing may use some fine-tuning earlier than it heads to New York. The staging, transferring from vintage to comedian kink, accommodates the quickly shifting story. (Anna Louizos’ cell scenic design and David I. Reynoso’s playful costumes conjure Regency refinement with out being trapped by it.) However generally the solid appears a bit frazzled by the musical’s leaps from a extra character-based comedy to all-out travesty.
The comfortable ending that begins “Regency Girls” is finally earned, although the standard romantic story strains are rewritten. Elinor and her posse deserve extra fulfilling lives, and with the assistance of canny Madame Restell, they handle to make their goals come true on their very own phrases.
‘Regency Girls’
The place: Outdated Globe Theatre, 1363 Outdated Globe Means, Balboa Park, San Diego
When: 7 p.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays, 2 and eight p.m. Saturdays, 2 and seven p.m. Sundays. Ends Might 11
Tickets: Begin at $45
Contact: theoldglobe.org or (619) 234-5623
Operating time: 2 hours, 40 minutes, with one intermission.
