Tag Archives: Sense and Sensibility

Reflection: Sense & Sensibility the Musical

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Now that I have had a few days to really let Denver’s production of Sense & Sensibility musical by Jeffrey Haddow and Neal Hampton sink in I could give details of what I liked and didn’t like, etc…

CHARACTER / ACTOR BREAKDOWN
The first thing I noticed was that aside from six characters:
– Elinor Dashwood
– Marianne Dashwood
– Mrs Jennings
– Edward Ferrars
– Colonel Brandon
– John Willoughby
Everyone else in the cast was playing dual (if not triple) roles… most as an ensemble-ish group similar to the Liebeslieders (or the Quintet) of A Little Night Music. Though unlike in A Little Night Music, the ensemble fluctuates from as little as four players to as many as eight/nine (I do not remember which).

However, there are two others within the cast who are not necessarily part of the general ensemble but do play multiple roles on stage.

This ingenious casting piqued my interest because it gives performing arts groups the flexibility of having a medium sized cast of 16 actors (maybe less depending on how things break down) to as large as need be for high school groups… and yes I am thinking very far ahead.

Anyway!!!!!
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Review: Sense & Sensibility World Premiere in Denver

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Wow, it was almost a year ago that I was listening to the music clips on the Sense and Sensibility the Musical website and was drawn into the show… Draw into it enough to want to see the production upon its arrival in Denver.

It has been a year and well… I did end up making that trip to Colorado specifically so I could see this production live. Don’t judge me.

First… the quickies:
– Acting: LOVE
– Vocals: LOVE
– Music / Orchestration: LOVE
– Set Design: LOVE
– Directing: LOVE
– OVERALL: LOVE!!!

I was seriously considering buying another ticket for the matinee production on Sunday but thought better of it.

But where to begin? Well to start the one thing I like is that there isn’t some massive ensemble in addition to the cast, there is a group of five to seven actors/actresses who help move the story along (a la A Little Night Music). Why five to seven? Because not only do they help move the story along, but some of them also play smaller parts in the production when needed:
– Lucy Steele
– Thomas (Dashwoods servant)
– Peter (London servant)
– Miss Grey (Willoughby’s bride)
– John and Fanny Dashwood
And others, but the above are the most “obvious” I would say.

Personally I didn’t notice when each of the above players were in the “ensemble” so to speak until much later in the production… which was a good thing… otherwise I would have to watch the show again just so I could see if I had missed anything.

Since this is my impression / review of the production itself I won’t go into detail about changes from the original novel… that is going to be a post in and of itself. However what I will say is this:

When it comes to the storylines of the Dashwood sisters the stage adaptation is fairly close to the novel (with a few changes here and there). When it comes to where a lot of where particular points of the storyline happens, there are far more changes that a total purist may not be too keen on, but for me being a purist… I find that the changes made were probably the best ones that could have been done.

But again that’s another post for another day.

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Literary Review: Old Friends New Fancies by Sybil G Brinton

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Technically I read this particular novel a few years ago, and I have reread particular portions of the novel but it has been a while since I have read the novel front to back in its entirety. So after those few years I decided to pack up the book and reread it during my flight to the west coast and from there decided to break it all down again.

First a few generalizations to note:
The author does notate some passage of years for various characters (if not all), however, there was a distinct feeling that all six of the primary novels ended at approximately the same time. As thus there was a sense of convolution in trying to fit everything in as much as possible.

There were a fair number of characters that were either 1) mentioned in passing, 2) passing through as an obstacle or 3) passing through as a connection for other characters to meet. How do these break down? Well
1) Edward and Elinor Ferrars, Colonel and Marianne Brandon, Catherine Tilney, most of the Bertrams
2) Anne Steele, Robert and Lucy Ferrars, Sir Elliot, Lady Catherine de Bourgh
3) Lady Portinscale (Eleanor Tilney), Mr Yates

As always there were a few primary romances that occurred over the course of the novel… without providing any spoilers some of the characters in question included:
Northanger Abbey: James Morland
Mansfield Park: Tom Bertram, William Price, Mary Crawford
Pride and Prejudice: Colonel Fitzwilliam, Georgiana Darcy, Kitty Bennet
I am sure from the above you are able to figure out the majority of the pairings (if not all)

Overall I rather enjoyed this particular novel, despite all the typos, editing errors, etc. It is probably one of the better Jane Austen sequels I have read in a while. With the majority of the characters staying true to the original characterization as depicted by Jane Austen it is a real trip to try to remember how someone knew someone else and why. At the same time the new romances were fun to follow as I found myself getting involved in them as well.

But like all books… I have a few grievances:

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Fleeting: Sense and Sensibility the Musical by Jeffrey Haddow and Neal Hampton

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Back in late-September of 2011, I went to New York City to watch the up and coming musical: Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice via the New York Musical Festival.

When I first listened to the music for Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice created by Lindsay Warren Baker and Amanda Jacobs, I would admit, as much as I enjoyed pieces of the music I wasn’t completely sold. Until I went to see this production live on stage… seeing everything put together did the music come to life to me. Not necessarily a good thing, but it does bring the audience goer deeper into the story.

The music of Sense & Sensibility by Jeffrey Haddow and Neal Hampton is very similar to that for me. When listening to the music, I was intrigued, but very few songs drew me in. One of these being “I Must Have Sense” that Elinor sings to Marianne in an attempt to prevent herself from breaking down in the possibility of losing her sister.

In the meantime while reading my RSS Feed I found out that one Marcia Milgrom Dodge (Tony nominee for Best Direction of a Musical of the 2009’s revival of Ragtime) was tapped to direct the production at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts for their 2012-2013 season.

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