To see The Importance of Being Earnest at the Paper Mill Playhouse on Super Bowl Sunday, with only about half the seats in the large theater filled, might not sound like theatrical heaven. But if this intimate, witty comedy can make an effect under such circumstances, as it did this past weekend, it's a sure indication that those involved are doing something -- or many things -- right.
A great deal of credit for the production's success goes to David Schwizer; he has directed the play in a broadly comedic style that would probably not have gone over well in a smaller venue but is just right for the capacious Paper Mill, which is much better suited to big, splashy musicals. Alexander Dodge's sets and David Murin's costumes take a similar approach; bold, black and white prints on every surface of Algernon's London flat yield to colorful, almost impressionistic designs for the scenes in a country garden.
The cast follows suit, contributing highly entertaining performances that sometimes threaten to go over the top but never do. Jeffrey Carlson gives us perhaps the most foppish Algernon in history -- and it works. Handsome Wayne Wilcox plays John Worthing as a gangly nerd, complete with brilliantined hair. Annika Boras is a feistier Gwendolyn than the usual; Zoe Winters is adorably annoying as Cecily; and the always wondeful Lynn Redgrave potrays Lady Bracknell as a still vital woman of a certain age, rather than a brittle old crone. To them all, I say "bravo!" (or "brava!", as the case may be).
