Newport Production Gets Lost on the Way to ‘Philadelphia’

“The Philadelphia Story” was tailor-made for Katharine Hepburn, and one can easily see why she succeeded so completely in the role of Tracy Lord. A flower of wealthy stock herself, Hepburn hadn’t far to go to enter imaginatively into the posh brilliance of high-society Philadelphia. The Newport Theatre Arts Center production, however, still has quite a distance to cover.

The story unfolds at the country estate of the Lord family, where we are swept into a social whirlwind on the eve of Tracy’s second marriage. Eccentric rich people are on hand: the precocious little sister, the suave brother, the unflappable matron, the wayward father, the licentious uncle and the boorish fiance. Also on hand are Tracy’s caustic, smooth-as-silk first husband, Dexter, as well as a reporter and a photographer from a national scandal sheet.

Tracy, a brilliant creature whose charm attracts men like insects to a bug zapper, yearns to be something more than a dress-horse hostess. Her quest for that “something”--culminating in an abandoned, moonlit fling hours before the wedding ceremony is to take place--is the engine that drives this truly romantic comedy.

There’s very little romance on stage in Newport Beach. It is thoroughly routed under Larry Blake’s direction, in which the proceedings are loud and energetic, as if a pratfall were expected at any moment. Juicy affairs of the heart between divinely elegant people dehydrate into the aimless shenanigans of the rich and famous.

The set design has a touch of elegance, but forces all the action into a straight line across the front of the stage. The costume design is undone completely by Uncle Willie’s ill-fitting tux pants. And at the most romantic moments, the stage lights dim into a circle of moon glow as if desperate to remind us that we should be falling in love, even if the performers aren’t.

Every now and then, there’s a gleam of charm. Warren K. Draper is roguishly debonair as Uncle Willie, and Jane Nunn gives Liz, the photographer, a touch of world-weary sarcasm. As Tracy, Sydney Thornton-Smith improves as the plot thickens, and Eric F. Chandler, as Dexter, has an appealing, loose-limbed insouciance. But I never believed for a moment that any one of them were in love with anyone else.

Barry’s play, first produced in 1939, requires a knowing and tender touch. Director Blake may be a native Philadelphian, but he’s a demonstrable stranger in the kingdom of Romance.

‘The Philadelphia Story’

A Newport Theatre Arts Center presentation of Philip Barry’s romantic comedy. Directed by Larry Blake. Produced by Rae Cohen. With Sydney Thornton-Smith, Rory Castanon, Louise Tonti, Eric Nelson, Warren K. Draper, Toni Colley, Jane Nunn, Rick Barr, Eric F. Chandler, Walter B. DuRant, David Pruhs. Set design by Bronson. Costume design by Elizabeth Matos. Lighting design by Larry Davis. Performances Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2:30 p.m. through Dec. 15. Tickets: $13. (714) 631-0288.