STAGE REVIEW : Meet ‘Miss Jean Brodie,’ but Beware

It’s no accident that Jean Brodie counts Mussolini and Franco among her models. The aging schoolteacher is an eccentric woman with a gift for moving young minds, but she’s also something of a classroom fascist, not above dominating and manipulating her female students in the name of art and knowledge. She’s not bad, she’s just obsessive--Machiavelli with flash cards, Napoleon with an eraser.

In “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” by Jay Presson Allen (based on Muriel Sparks’ novel), we get an up-close and personal view of this unusual woman in 1930s Edinburgh and of the deep, and not always positive, effect she has on her charges.

At the Westminster Community Theatre, Beth Titus plays Brodie vigorously; we can feel the verve that such a zealot must possess. When she starts rhapsodizing about poetry or Giotto’s epic canvases, it’s not hard to identify with the students who are enamored of her almost otherworldly spirit and dedication.

And when Brodie finds how far she’s gone astray in her teachings (the death of a young girl in the Spanish Civil War is the direct result of Brodie’s fanatical yearnings to participate, at least vicariously, in the most important event of the day), it comes as a shocking contradiction to all that she sees in herself.

There’s an urgency to J.D. Reichelderfer’s direction that serves the drama well. The monochromatic set--a series of black blocks (designed by Reichelderfer) that function in various ways, including as classroom desks--helps to underscore the starkness of Brodie and her relationships.

Besides her students (Dani Ballew, Diane Burland, Laurie Sondag and Marla Wagner), she’s also involved with Gordon (Randy Patterson), a music teacher, and Teddy (Doug Stauter), a married artist and her chief love. Then there’s Miss McKay (Lynne Tavernetti), the school principal with whom she constantly clashes. All give satisfying performances.

‘THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE’

A Westminster Community Theatre production of Jay Presson Allen’s adaptation of Muriel Sparks’ novel. Directed by J.D. Reichelderfer. With Diane Burland, Dick Taylor, Beth Titus, Marla Wagner, Dani Ballew, Randy Patterson, Doug Stauter and Lee Dorman. Set by J.D. Reichelderfer. Lighting by Elan Abrams. Sound by Jenny Burton. Plays Fridays and Saturdays at 8:30 p.m. through June 10 at 7272 Maple St., Westminster. Tickets: $5 to $7. (714) 995-4113.