The Rivals
Y
Dec 21, 2004
The Vivian Beaumont Theater,
Lincoln Center, N.Y.
Through Jan. 23
If there's one area in which Broadway is lacking compared to its West End counterpart, it's high-quality classical theater. That situation is temporarily rectified with this highly enjoyable and expert Lincoln Center production of Richard Brinsley Sheridan's comedy of manners "The Rivals," which still manages to delight some 230 years after it was written.
To be sure, the work has its contrived and dull aspects, and this production, directed by Mark Lamos, doesn't always fully succeed in conveying its antic spirit. But it does so reasonably often enough, and its mere presence is to be applauded.
Today, the play is best known for the character of Mrs. Malaprop, whose mangling of the English language is so acutely comical that the name has entered the general vocabulary. As pricelessly embodied by Dana Ivey, the character's endless malapropisms garner the same constant stream of laughs today as they no doubt did originally.
Mrs. Malaprop is but a supporting character in the complicated plot, which concerns itself with the romantic plight of Captain Jack Absolute (Matt Letscher), a dashing naval officer attempting to woo the beautiful Lydia Languish (Emily Bergl). Lydia, a deep romantic, has resisted all attempts at an arranged marriage with a member of her class, so the frustrated Jack must pretend to be a lowly sailor. In the meantime, Mrs. Malaprop and Jack's blowhard father, Sir Anthony Absolute (Richard Easton), are attempting to match the two young people up; as a result, Jack finds that he's competing with himself for her affections.
Meanwhile, Jack's best friend, Faulkland (Jim True-Frost), is similarly besotted with Lydia's friend Julia (Carrie Preston), whose seeming indifference drives the insecure young man to the point of hysterical despair.
The expert cast handles these complicated but endlessly witty proceedings with just the right combination of elegance and comic buffoonery, managing the difficult feat of playing their period characters with an actual sense of the period. Lamos has directed the play clearly and briskly, setting most of the action squarely down front, with the actors performing in front of set designer John Lee Beatty's beautiful re-creation of the townscape of Bath. If occasionally the staging seems a bit static, the richness of the language and the performances more than makes up for it.
The Rivals
Presented by the Lincoln Center Theater
Credits:
Playwright: Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Director: Mark Lamos
Set designer: John Lee Beatty
Costume designer: Jess Goldstein
Lighting designer: Peter Kaczorowski
Original music: Robert Waldman
Cast:
Lydia Languish: Emily Bergl
Sir Anthony Absolute Richard Easton
Mrs. Malaprop: Dana Ivey
Captain Jack Absolute: Matt Letscher
Sir Lucius O'Trigger: Brian Murray
Julia: Carrie Preston
Faulkland: Jim True-Frost
Lincoln Center, N.Y.
Through Jan. 23
If there's one area in which Broadway is lacking compared to its West End counterpart, it's high-quality classical theater. That situation is temporarily rectified with this highly enjoyable and expert Lincoln Center production of Richard Brinsley Sheridan's comedy of manners "The Rivals," which still manages to delight some 230 years after it was written.
To be sure, the work has its contrived and dull aspects, and this production, directed by Mark Lamos, doesn't always fully succeed in conveying its antic spirit. But it does so reasonably often enough, and its mere presence is to be applauded.
Today, the play is best known for the character of Mrs. Malaprop, whose mangling of the English language is so acutely comical that the name has entered the general vocabulary. As pricelessly embodied by Dana Ivey, the character's endless malapropisms garner the same constant stream of laughs today as they no doubt did originally.
Mrs. Malaprop is but a supporting character in the complicated plot, which concerns itself with the romantic plight of Captain Jack Absolute (Matt Letscher), a dashing naval officer attempting to woo the beautiful Lydia Languish (Emily Bergl). Lydia, a deep romantic, has resisted all attempts at an arranged marriage with a member of her class, so the frustrated Jack must pretend to be a lowly sailor. In the meantime, Mrs. Malaprop and Jack's blowhard father, Sir Anthony Absolute (Richard Easton), are attempting to match the two young people up; as a result, Jack finds that he's competing with himself for her affections.
Meanwhile, Jack's best friend, Faulkland (Jim True-Frost), is similarly besotted with Lydia's friend Julia (Carrie Preston), whose seeming indifference drives the insecure young man to the point of hysterical despair.
The expert cast handles these complicated but endlessly witty proceedings with just the right combination of elegance and comic buffoonery, managing the difficult feat of playing their period characters with an actual sense of the period. Lamos has directed the play clearly and briskly, setting most of the action squarely down front, with the actors performing in front of set designer John Lee Beatty's beautiful re-creation of the townscape of Bath. If occasionally the staging seems a bit static, the richness of the language and the performances more than makes up for it.
The Rivals
Presented by the Lincoln Center Theater
Credits:
Playwright: Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Director: Mark Lamos
Set designer: John Lee Beatty
Costume designer: Jess Goldstein
Lighting designer: Peter Kaczorowski
Original music: Robert Waldman
Cast:
Lydia Languish: Emily Bergl
Sir Anthony Absolute Richard Easton
Mrs. Malaprop: Dana Ivey
Captain Jack Absolute: Matt Letscher
Sir Lucius O'Trigger: Brian Murray
Julia: Carrie Preston
Faulkland: Jim True-Frost
Share on LinkedIn
