Falling Short of Her Potential

LA JOLLA —  Another night passes in secret-ridden Thornfield Hall, out on the moors. Jane Eyre, a young English governess who has been through a lot, believes her love for Edward Rochester, master of the house, to be unrequited. Despairingly, she sketches a self-portrait and assesses the results as “plain and uneven.”

Now in its U.S. premiere at the La Jolla Playhouse, the musical “Jane Eyre” is a bit better than that. It doesn’t risk enough musically or dramatically to be uneven; it’s a smooth achievement marked by virtues--modesty, earnestness--found in the heroine of Charlotte Bronte’s 1847 novel, a three-part affair, the sort Oscar Wilde derided in “The Importance of Being Earnest.”

But a wholly successful musical requires more. Bronte’s subtle, glowingly intelligent character remains here a muffled one. Despite Marla Schaffel’s searchingly sung performance as Jane, opposite James Barbour’s wryly charismatic Rochester, the show never gets under your skin or slips into your imagination. You appreciate the creative team’s resistance to Gothic excess, which Bronte herself downplayed in favor of more subtle romantic shadings. In the end, though, like the protagonist, “Jane Eyre” plays as if it’s still growing into its potential.

The show can’t help but recall a little musical called “Les Miserables,” which after becoming a French phenomenon became an English one, then went international. “Jane Eyre” features a libretto by John Caird, who also co-directs and contributes additional lyrics to composer-lyricist Paul Gordon’s score. Co-director Caird worked with scenic designer John Napier and costume designer Andreane Neofitou on “Les Miz” to keep a big story rolling forward. These three reunite on “Jane Eyre.” Napier’s central device, an ever-spinning turntable, returns as well. Above the sparse stage floor, a window unit floats and relocates for each new scene. It’s a symbol of Jane’s various windows of opportunity, as well as her watchfulness.

Streamlined since its 1996 Toronto edition, the production gives free rein to lighting designer Chris Parry, working here with a revolving light grid above the stage. (The show lists no choreographer; this grid, however, does some pretty fancy footwork.) Caird, who co-directs with Scott Schwartz, borrows from “Les Miz” as well as from Caird’s experiences on “The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby.” In “Jane Eyre,” as in “Nickleby,” Caird and company rely on direct address of the audience, letting the actors share the narrative duties.

The adult Jane (Schaffel) helps relay her harsh early years, referring to us as “gentle audience.” Orphaned at a young age, young Jane (Tiffany Scarritt) gets plunked down into the unwelcoming house of her widowed aunt (Anne Allgood) and her aunt’s venal son (Lee Zarrett). Then it’s off to Lowood, a grim school run by Mr. Brocklehurst (Don Richard, who might consider doing, oh, 200% less).

Life bears down hard on young Jane, depriving her of her one friend, saintly Helen Burns (Megan Drew), a victim of typhus. Her lot improves as a governess in the employ of Rochester (Barbour), whose daughter Adele (Joelle Shapirno) by an inconstant French chorine comes under Jane’s tutelage. But what of these strange stirrings within Jane’s heart? Rochester’s engagement to a miserable poseur, Blanche Ingram (Elizabeth DeGrazia), makes Jane run. Almost.

Ultimately, she finds happiness, though not before she finds a few other things, chiefly Rochester’s hushed-up, bat-spit-crazy wife (Marguerite MacIntyre, a fine performer stuck in tiny roles here). As in “The Secret Garden,” another more fully realized brooder of a musical, the events of “Jane Eyre” practically ensure a boatload of sympathy for its central characters. Which isn’t a bad thing in any popular entertainment. It’s what you do with those events that matters.

Composer-lyricist Gordon favors the through-composed, heavily underscored attack of “Les Miz.” His score heightens a particular aspect of the novel, that of Jane’s (and Bronte’s) belief in premonitions and telepathy. It’s right there in “Secrets of the House,” the song opening both Act 1 and Act 2. The problem is, it’s there in some pretty prosaic lyrics, bonking us on the nose: “Sympathies exist/Presentiments and signs/That baffle our mortal comprehension.” Words like these give us theme but not much in the way of character and specificity.

Orchestrated here for 13 musicians, Gordon’s score has a way with atmosphere; the better melodies maintain some romantic suspense, and, thankfully, “Jane Eyre” doesn’t operate in the romper-stomper fashion of certain other Broadway-minded pop composers. (Clue: Frank Wildhorn.) Gordon’s music could use a little more shamelessness, in fact. If we’re to be seduced by the love of Jane Eyre and Edward Rochester, the music--the entire show--needs to bring out more of both personalities, a clash of wills, a sense of higher stakes. Like “The Secret Garden,” many will be moved by “Jane Eyre” simply because its heroine has been through the mill. The mill itself, however, emits at this point a promising but defiantly middle-of-the-road sound, the sound of a writer whose singles include “The Next Time I Fall” and “Friends and Lovers.”

Caird and Gordon have licked this project in structural terms. The show’s designs are pretty stark, to the point of drabness, but they’re effective on their own terms. There’s an awful lot of arch mugging afoot in the supporting ranks of this cast, yet the production has the performance anchors it needs in Schaffel and Barbour. “Jane Eyre” rests heavily on the two leads. It’s old-fashioned that way. It needs to make more of a virtue of that, and without remaking her into a diva, it must find a stronger voice for its virtuous heroine.

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* “Jane Eyre,” La Jolla Playhouse, Mandell Weiss Theatre, UC San Diego, La Jolla Village Drive and Torrey Pines Road. Tuesdays-Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 and 7 p.m. Ends Aug. 29. $21-$45 (this Saturday, 2 p.m.: pay what you can). (619) 550-1010. Running time: 3 hours.

Anne Allgood: Mrs. Reed, Lady Ingram

Nell Balaban: Grace Poole, Amy Eshton

James Barbour: Edward Rochester

Lauren Campbell: Schoolgirl

Elizabeth DeGrazia: Blanche Ingram

Bruce Dow: Robert

Megan Drew: Helen Burns

Kelly Felthous: Schoolgirl

Marguerite MacIntyre: Miss Scatcherd, Mrs. Dent, Bertha

Bill Nolte: Richard Mason

Jayne Paterson: Jane’s Mother, Mary Ingram

Don Richard: Brocklehurst, Col. Dent, Vicar

Tiffany Scarritt: Young Jane Eyre

Marla Schaffel: Jane Eyre

Joelle Shapiro: Adele

Mary Stout: Mrs. Fairfax

Rachel Ulanet: Louisa Eshton

Christopher Yates: Jane’s Father, Mr. Eshton, St. John Rivers

Lee Zarrett: John Reed, Young Lord Ingram

Book and additional lyrics by John Caird, based on the novel by Charlotte Bronte. Music and lyrics by Paul Gordon. Directed by John Caird and Scott Schwartz. Set design by John Napier. Costumes by Andreane Neofitou. Lighting by Chris Parry. Sound by Tom Clark and Mark Menard. Musical direction by Steven Tyler. Orchestrations by Larry Hochman. Production stage manager Lori M. Doyle.