Feb 23, 2015 | Salt Lake County, Theater Reviews

The Empress’s Earnest is Charmingly Fun

Front Row Reviewers

By Cindy Whitehair

Everyone, it seems, loves a musical, but every now and then I love a good comedy. Tonight, Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest at the Empress filled the bill.

Earnest takes a satirical look at Victorian society and the desire to impress all the wrong people for all the wrong reasons. Directed by Heather Oberlander, Earnest follows the misadventures of Jack Worthing (Eric Shelley) and Algernon Moncrieff (Jeff Erickson) as they court Gwendolyn Fairfax (Heather Shelley) and Cecily Cardew (Rebecca Waite). Throw in a status conscious mother, Lady Bracknell played by Joanne Galloway, an uptight governess with a past (Andria Cameron), a affable Reverend (Bryan McNabb) swept up in the pecularities of the rich, and a pair of put upon butlers (Clay Cammack and Jason Wixam) and you have a gentle night of light-hearted laughs.

Earnest was a uniformly well-acted show. There were a couple of times where a couple of actors were a little hard to hear but that was really the only issue we had. We loved the interactions between Algie and Jack and Gwendolyn and Cecily (especially at the end of Act 2). They were a joy to watch.

Being as the Empress is our “home” theater (disclosure – Perry and I are both volunteers at the Empress and Perry acts and is construction manager there, but neither of us were directly involved in this show) we were both quite impressed with director Heather Oberlander’s use of the Empress’ intimate stage. Her set design (set construction by Connie Beatty, Skye Davis and Michelle Brown – scenic art by Devin Johnson) was simple and perfect for the space. It was also great to see a show set in England that had a dialect coach to help the actors sound authentic. Coral Chambers did a fantastic job preparing the actors for their roles. Lighting designer Stefan Oberlander did a great job minimizing the Empress’ dark spots on stage so that everyone was properly lit. Costumes (Connie Beatty and Heather Oberlander) were fantastic and I simply loved Lady Bracknell’s hats.

The Importance of Being Earnest is a classic, but it is not dated. It is a comedy that is just as timely today as it was when Wilde wrote in the late 1800’s. If you are looking for a night of frivolity, you really should see The Importance of Being Earnest at the Empress.
There are also edema purchase cialis and slight or moderate hypertension. When a man is sexually aroused, the signals are sent from brain to cialis 5 mg penile organ to release nitric oxide, a chemical that increases blood circulation. Remarkable things about Paying for levitra from canada There are numerous great things about buying commonly used levitra medicine, for example, Kamagra jelly, kamagra tablets and kamagra soft tablets etc. The discount viagra levitra analysis signifies that the fraction of population would not obtain good night sleep and endures from sleep apnea because of snoring.