Being Earnest....Very important.

[skynyc]

There's a reason this production has just extended for 13 more weeks. Not only is this one of the smartest and funniest plays ever written, but this production is terrific. Bedford the director has directed a strong company to add a freshness to the material, and yet catch every laugh and nuanced look.

The gimmick of Bracknell being played by a man is hardly new, but Bedford the actor owns the stage every second that he is on. I still chuckle as I imagine his bellow of "Prism?!?!" late in act III.

Dana Ivey and Paxton Whitehead as Prism and Chausable just add to jollity...and the young foursome are very strong. Santino Fontana grew on me as Algernon. And the Gwendolyn was divine...and her costumes were spectacular.

The look of the production is great, although I didn't care for the second act (garden) set.

 

My one drawback...the audience was terrible. Eating chips and crinkling wrappers. No cell phones ringing, but lots of folks who don't know how to behave in the theater. One expects the chorus of "What did she say?" when seeing a show at the Roundabout with it's mature subscription base...(wasn't that diplomatic?) but the lady downstairs who was calling out plot points before they happened (I was seated upstairs) really should have been boiled in oil. "That's a MAN in that dress." "It's the SAME handbag." "His name is really______!"

<grrrrrr>

 

This production has been on the half price booth daily, and is worth the ticket price. Enjoy a cocktail with friends and then a super production of one of the theater's great classics.

 

Better yet, subscribe to the Roundabout for their 3 show package and combine it with Sutton Foster in Anything Goes and Donna Murphy in The People in the Picture. (New musical, haven't seen it, but it's DONNA MURPHY.) However, don't let them talk you into seeing Milk Train with Olympia Dukakis. The theater was half empty for act II and some folks didn't even wait for the intermission to depart.

[Doe Be Doe]

Saw this today and it was great. Who is this Santino guy? He's hot!