‘Jean Brodie’ an Honest Portrayal of Learning

Sometimes a teacher can have a tremendous effect on students. A point of view, a living and breathing approach to history and art, a sense of philosophy, all can change a youngster’s way of thinking, even the course of the student’s life.

Jay Presson Allen’s stage adaptation of Muriel Spark’s novel “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie,” now playing at the Newport Theatre Arts Center in Newport Beach, is in many ways timeless, because the characters involved are real and honest and can be found handily in any educational system around the world.

Jean Brodie was one of those special teachers. Although her story takes place in the early 1930s, the joy, and certainly the havoc she caused in the lives of her students was profound. Brodie was, as she repeatedly states, in her prime, both publicly as a teacher, and privately as romantically obsessed female. Her dedication to her teaching kept her from finalizing any relationship, but it was a potent enough part of her life to spill over into her classroom ramblings.

Jean Brodie’s story is told to an American journalist named Perry (played by a solid and intense James Jacoby) in 1966, by an aging nun named Sister Helena (a very effective and touching Leslie Williams), who has published a bestselling book. When he asks her who had the strongest impact on her, Sister Helena begins to relate the saga of her student days with Miss Brodie.

It is a revealing tale about the aura of romance that filled Brodie’s classroom, along with the barely hidden Sundays with Brodie’s lover, the school’s music master, and should be required reading, or seeing, for anyone thinking about teaching. So much of Brodie was honest and true, and so much a naive sham.

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This is a difficult play to pull off and, of course, much of it depends on the actress playing Brodie. Beverly Turner is mostly an interesting and dedicated Brodie, particularly in her flights of ardor, whether for the man she met during the summer in Italy, or for the positive qualities she sees in Benito Mussolini.

Her characterization doesn’t work when, during those flights, Turner raises her eyes and arms, declaiming to the ceiling instead of focused eye contact with the students, which would be more effective. It’s a technical thing, like never looking at the stairs when you’re descending them, but it’s something director Michael Ross should have noticed and corrected.

Ross also should have tempered Turner’s approach at the very end, after she is summarily dismissed for causing the death of a pupil. Turner suddenly abandons her first Brodie and becomes a whipped dog, bent over dejectedly, an attitude Brodie would never adopt. She would end her career still in her “prime.”

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Within scenes, Ross generally handles the moods and levels with rewarding shadings and rhythms. But transitions between the scenes are uncomfortable and out of balance, in part because of Nanci Sroga’s uncomfortable and ill-advised scenic design.

Louise Tonti is on the nose with her strait-laced yet wise headmistress, Miss Mackay. As Brodie’s romantic interests, Peter Stone as the music teacher, and Tony Howley as the married art teacher who can’t get her out of his mind, are both excellent, with interesting subtext and character shading.

In any production of this play, the casting of the girl students is critical, and Ross has found the right actresses for the trio of students most affected by Brodie. Mindy Titus has the right opaque feel as the pretty, but not too bright, Jenny. Elyse Beyer is very good as the mistakenly dubbed loser in the group. Katie Brittle almost steals the show as Sandy, the bright light of Brodie’s class and the one who knows best that their idol really has feet of clay.

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* “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie,” Newport Theatre Arts Center, 2501 Cliff Drive, Newport Beach. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2:30 p.m. Ends Feb. 28. $13. (949) 631-0288. Running time: 2 hours, 40 minutes.

James Jacoby: Mr. Perry

Leslie Williams: Sister Helena

Beverly Turner: Jean Brodie

Katie Brittle: Sandy

Mindy Titus: Jenny

Elyse Beyer: Mary MacGregor

Louise Tonti: Miss Mackay

Peter Stone: Gordon Lowther

Tony Howley: Teddy Lloyd

A Newport Theatre Arts Center revival of Jay Presson Allen’s drama, based on the novel by Muriel Spark. Produced by Jerry Nininger. Directed by Michael Ross. Scenic design: Nanci Sroga. Lighting design: Russell Clelland. Costume design: Donna Fritsche. Dialect coach: Leslie Williams. Stage manager: Allan Nelson.