The rhythms of Jane Austen’s novels are so persuasive, their challenges and resolutions so familiar, that playwright Kate Hamill can merrily tease our knowledge again and again in her winking adaptation of “Emma,” now at the Denver Center, through May 5.
Those beats are after all, the stuff of many a movie rom-com. Still, who would have guessed the seeming influence of one Yorgos Lanthimos? The Greek filmmaker’s “Poor Things” featured his own Emma (Stone) doing an unexpectedly zany, quasi-“Soul Train” dance; Rachel Weisz devolved into something similarly wild in his film “The Favourite”.
Those familiar with the moviemaker’s work should not be surprised (sorry for the spoiler) but delighted nonetheless by director Meredith McDonough’s employ of contemporary songs and dance moves during the genteel parties in “Emma,” starting with the wedding celebration of Mrs. and Mr. Weston and ending with… well if you don’t know Austen’s fourth book, I’ll keep mum.
Even before the house lights dim, the preshow sound of Dua Lipa’s “Dance the Night Away” hinted at the spirit of play the show would be going for, as did the pink gel lights casting their rosy hue on the arch that frames the action. Highbury Barbie, anyone?
Amelia Pedlow brings conspiratorial joy to her role as the play’s titular meddler and matchmaker. Emma’s use of direct address is coy but never cloying. The audience is drawn into her ploys by her charm but also remains more knowing than our hero because Austen and romantic comedies have schooled us to be.
A student of Miss Bates (Marlene Montes), the well-educated but too idle Emma takes credit for the nuptials of her former governess, the newly wed Mrs. Weston, and begins planning more romantic intrigues. Joey Parsons delights as the governess and wisest soul on stage.
Emma’s childhood friend and neighbor, Mr. George Knightley (Carman Lacivita) sees the errors in her machinations and calls her on them, which only spurs her on.
But long before her gentle comeuppance, Emma sets her sights on marrying off Harriet Smith (Samantha Steinmetz). Steinmetz brings a fangirl adulation to her interactions with Emma. She is the acolyte and Emma the visionary. That this will change and the student challenge the teacher is part of the hilarity of Hamill’s script and McDonough’s direction.
Forget that Harriet seemed quite content with the attentions of Knightley’s groundskeeper, one Robert Martin. Marco Alberto Robinson plays the humble groundsman; the actor also struts his stuff without a fret as the gum-chomping Frank Churchill. Mr. Weston’s nephew is quite eligible, and well-situated. Might he be the perfect match for Emma?
As for Mr. Martin, he says very little in the show because this is not really about his station but Emma’s and Harriet’s, whose place in society Emma wants to elevate mostly to prove she can.
“Onward. Upward. Onward. Upward” Emma coaches Harriet, who starts to embrace the chant.
First, she becomes enamored of Mr. Elton, the rector. Then Harriet moves on to another target, which will complicate matters for Emma.
Brent Hinkley brings relish to his role as the florid clergyman Mr. Elton, who aims his Cupid’s arrow at an aghast Emma. (Cast in the role of Emma’s dad, Hinkley is forever arriving on stage a great bowl in hand expressing his gruel intentions.)
Did we mention Miss Bates’s beloved niece Jane (Annie Barbour)? For no obvious reason — besides being lovely and smart although a bit chilly — she is Emma’s nemesis. Jane and Mr. Churchill have a prior if mysterious acquaintanceship. But Jane’s mere return to Highbury throws Emma off her game.
Atop distant, rolling, emerald-green hills, stand the illuminated cutouts of a rectory, three manors and what appears to be a groundskeeper’s modest abode. (Mr. Martin’s?) The show’s witty scenic design and clever costumes reflect the crafty work of designer Lex Liang. Both underline the sweet silliness of the outing but never scuttle its lessons. In one scene, Harriet returns to the stage in a lemony gown that has a billowing flower at each breast. Va-va-bloom. But the entire production — sound by Palmer Heffernan; lights by Jackie Fox and Paul Toben — runs with a fluid and sly confidence.
Emma mentions Shakespeare’s tragedies as proof of enduring romantic couples, which rightly gives Harriet pause. Of course, with its roundelay of romantic presumptive romantic partners, “Emma” shares kinship with Shakespeare’s comedies. Hamill clearly knows her way around the Bard’s and Austen’s tart language. And director McDonough proves deft with goofball slapstick and fleet dialog, having helmed last’s season’s Denver Center revival of the larky noir “The 39 Steps” as well as the world premiere of “Emma” at Minneapolis’s Guthrie Theatre.
If, as reported, youth is wasted on the young, this zesty romp with its nods to Lizzo and Emma’s fourth-wall breaking nudges intends to make certain theater isn’t wasted on, well, the older folk. Present company included. Rock on, Austen. Dance the night away, Emma and Co.
If you go
Written by Kate Hamill based on the book by Jane Austen. Directed by Meredith McDonough. Featuring Amelia Pedlow, Carman Lacivita, Samantha Steinmetz, Marlene Montes, Brent Hinkley, Joey Parsons, Annie Barbour, Louis Sallan, Marco Alberto Robinson and Steph Colombo. At the Helen Bonfils Theatre Complex, 14 th and Curtis. Through May 5. Tickets and info: denvercenter.org or 303-893-4100.
