With Hay Fever, it's all frightfully early, wickedly mannered Noel Coward bordering-on-farce. The eccentric Bliss family's colorful English country home, early 1920s, exactly follows Coward's stage directions, and elegantly. High ceilings, tasteful furnishings (including a shawled grand piano and a set of French doors that lead to a flower-filled garden) provide a proper setting for "retired" but always "on" actress Judith (lovely, vivacious Sharon Spelman). Husband David (conceived of as rather dry by Stephen Johnson) can write his romance novels in an upstairs study. Their two bratty 20-something kids, Simon (Brian Graves, often agog) and Sorel (flouncy Lucianne LaJoie) have plenty of space to flop or drape themselves about, squabbling over or hoping to go beyond their limitations.
The inciting incident in the Blisses' unreality show is that each, without telling the others, has invited a weekend guest. Slovenly Clara (Jan Wallace, believably Cockney and resentful), their maid of last resort, is the only one without romantic expectations.
As in a "Survivor" episode, the guests are thrown off kilter, except here, it's not long before they want to escape the Bliss "island" of nuttiness. Doug Jones, never too suave as Judith's flirting guest Richard Greatham, appropriately all but falls apart when he seems to be taken seriously. Heather Corwin, gorgeously done up in sparkling outfits, is equally stylish but proven romantically hesitant as David's "fan," Myra. Gabriel Ortiz, at first slick with Sorel, becomes rightly confused. His Sandy Tyrell, though, doesn't seem a boxer. Merideth Maddox is perfectly silly as giggly Jackie, genuinely bowled over by Simon. Except for Clara, Judith, David, and Richard's roles, FSU/Asolo Conservatory third year students play all the rest and - dare I say it? -- seem to better their betters. I hardly recognized them, most notably Corwin's sophisticated Myra. Odd, because the production as a whole is not as amusing nor the stars as sympatico as in a Conservatory version of the mid '90s.
Perhaps the most arresting aspect of the current presentation is the costuming. Colors, textures, shapes make a feast for the eyes, actually raising the level of the entertainment.
