Double Take on Wilde’s ‘Earnest’

Whose “Earnest” is it anyway?

Of all the plays to take on two identities in two separate productions at Valley theaters, Oscar Wilde’s brilliant nothing of a comedy, “The Importance of Being Earnest,” is one of the most eligible. After all, Wilde’s two skulduggery-loving dandies, Jack and Algernon, have invented alter-egos for themselves and just for the hell of it. Why not two different versions of Wilde’s best surviving play?

The classic, traditional approach is taken by Group Repertory Theatre, where director Patricia Lee Willson is staging “Earnest” as if no one had seen it before. This is the one for newcomers to Wilde, his comedy and the whole end-of-the-19th-century British style of cleverness embraced by Wilde and the team of Gilbert and Sullivan. (W.S. Gilbert’s “Engaged,” revived last year at Glendale’s A Noise Within, was the direct inspiration for “Earnest.”)

On the other hand, “Not in Earnest!”, at the Lionstar Theatre, is best enjoyed with a little “Earnest” knowledge. Anthony and Rosalie Calabrese’s musical version never takes real liberties with the original; in fact, their book keeps Wilde’s text fairly intact, except for small portions either trimmed or adapted to fit their song lyrics.

But there’s nothing like knowing the play to realize what work the pair has put into their musical. And how much more work needs to be done.

Over at Group Rep, you can hear how a musical could easily be made out of Wilde’s dizzying series of witty exchanges. Dizzying, but everything under Willson’s guidance is very clearly laid out, if not ideally cast. The whole, ridiculous course by which Algernon (James Stellos) pairs up with silly young Cecily Cardew (Bridget Murphy) and Jack (Nick Hovick) with the more mature and wily Gwendolen Fairfax (Therese Lentz) is clean, funny and also a touch uninspired.

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If Stellos’ Algernon takes dandyism further than even Wilde intended, Hovick’s Jack is too understated. Lentz looks and sounds absolutely to the manor born (aided by Rachelle Carmony’s consistently elegant costuming), though Murphy could do more to suggest Cecily’s spoiled side. Bethany Carpenter’s Miss Prism, Cecily’s governess, is all primness, and Bonnie Snyder’s Lady Bracknell is terrifically terrifying as the sternest of taskmistresses. Mareli Mitchel’s strange modernistic set, though, looks lost in a time warp.

At least Willson’s production knows the difference between cake and muffins (a very important detail in a play that devotes several minutes of dialogue to such sweet trivia).

Anthony Calabrese’s staging at the Lionstar ignores this detail, and a few others: The funny, smart Haley Gilbert as Cecily, for instance, is much too nicely done-up for such a naive girl. The set, by John Rowland Leighton III (who also did the lights), is somewhat in period, but cheap and ugly.

The show and the cast deserve better. Sticking faithfully to Wilde, the Anthony and Rosalie have simply inserted songs at most of the spots in the text where they make sense. When Algernon and Jack fill one other in on their alter-egos, they nicely flow into a pair of connected tunes, “How Can You Be Earnest?” and “I’m Jack in the Country.” A solid signature tune for the show is titled, naturally, “Nom de Plume.”

But while we can admire how even Wilde’s dialogue gets folded into the lyrics, we also wonder what was intended musically. Sometimes, G & S is evoked, but only with a few songs (“A Man Named Earnest,” “To Remain in the Best of Society”). The rhyming in “A Man Named Earnest” (lines ending in “asurity, “purity” and “maturity”) is perhaps the show’s brightest addition to the fused Wilde-G & S style, suggesting where the whole project could go.

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Too often, though, the songs are either mid-tempo or waltz-like numbers that leak a drippy romanticism totally alien to Wilde. The Calabrese team has begun its search for a music accompaniment to Wilde, but hasn’t found a unified sound or approach.

In most ways, though, this is a stronger cast than Group Rep’s. Chad Borden’s Algernon and Lance Taubold’s Jack (whom the program wrongly renames “Ernest”) are a better paired set of pleasure-seekers, and the show reaches a comic zenith with Kate Barclay’s glittering Gwendolen facing off with Gilbert’s Cecily.

Diane Kelber as Prism has a song of her own (“Younger and Happier Days,” with the properly stern Jim Newman as the local Reverend), which deepens her character and Wilde’s plot, and Kelber makes the most of every moment. Pat Lach’s memorably vertical face serves her Bracknell well, but she isn’t nearly intimidating enough.

Wilde’s comedy, taken either in classic style or musical-in-progress, remains what it is: an incredibly intelligent use of useless trivia, the ultimate non-caloric masterpiece. Eat up.

DETAILS

* WHAT: “Not in Earnest!”

* WHERE: Lionstar Theatre, 12655 Ventura Blvd., Studio City.

* WHEN: 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays. 2:30 p.m. Sundays. Ends April 21.

* COST: $15-$20.

* CALL: (818) 343-9902.

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* WHAT: “The Importance of Being Earnest”

* WHERE: Group Repertory Theatre, 10900 Burbank Blvd., North Hollywood.

* WHEN: 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday. 3 p.m. Sunday. Ends Sunday.

* COST: $15.

* CALL: (818) 769-7529.