There are so many good lines in Ernest in Love, a musical adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, that’s it’s too difficult to choose one to sum up the show. So this critic will refrain. Suffice to say this is a delightfully calorie-free confection that is so well-played that it could get giggles from a stone. Impossible, you say? Then consider how much more fun a superbly performed production of Oscar Wilde’s classic would be if the characters broke into cleverly written songs about all the facets of love. Speaking of stones, the stoniest of Wilde’s characters in Earnest is the irrepressible Lady Bracknell. Typically played by a male in the play (and fondly remembered by this critic in a 2010 Broadway production by the late, great, British-born actor, Brain Bedford), the role is played by a woman in the production by Milwaukee’s In Tandem Theater Company. The doyenne in this case is brilliant local actor Angela Iannone. She brings all the passion and fury from her former role as Maria Callas in Master Class (in a production by another local theater company) to her appearance as Lady Bracknell. Going as hilariously over-the-top as Wilde intended, Iannone commands everyone’s attention both onstage and off with her diva-like behavior. Dressed all in red for her initial appearance (as was Broadway’s Brian Bedford), Iannone demonstrates what a powerful color can do amid a sea of muted pastels. Her outfit, as well as all the other gorgeous Victorian costumes, is by Kathy Smith. Ernest in Love was produced Off-Broadway at the Gramercy Arts Theater in 1960, followed by a 2010 revival by the Irish Repertory Theater. In between these two productions, the musical Earnest made the rounds of regional venues. An album was produced by Columbia Records. Back to Milwaukee’s Lady Bracknell: Although Angela Iannone doesn’t have many songs, she sure has a beaut in “A Handbag is Not a Proper Mother.” This title is her character’s response to Jack’s proposal of marriage to Bracknell’s self-absorbed daughter, Gwendolen (Kristin Hammargren). Jack (Zachary Thomas Woods), you see, is quite uncertain of his lineage. The infant Jack was abandoned in a handbag 28 years ago. Found on a railway platform, Jack was raised by a kind society couple. However, in 1895 London – the time and setting in which this musical takes place – society’s rules wouldn’t allow someone with such a mysterious ancestry to marry into the upper classes.
Those rules – chafing as they are – seem to entrap the women more than the men. Perhaps this is because (in Wilde’s view) men are better liars. Jack has invented an alter-ego, Earnest, who can behave pretty much as he likes. Jack’s best friend, Algernon (Doug Clemons), also has an imaginary “friend,” Bunbury. The sickly “Bunbury” requires frequent visits to the country.
If the audience is still left wondering what these young men might be up to, it is all spelled out in a hilarious duet, “You Can’t Make Love.” It’s sung by Algernon’s valet, Lane (a likeable James Mason), and Jack’s rosy-cheeked housemaid, Effie (Katherine Duffy). Duffy, who has the ability to switch from sweet to sinful in the wink of an eye, also has a fabulous soprano voice. Mason is also no lightweight in the vocal department. With excellent diction, the lovers sing of how corsets and upper-class manners can get in the way of physical love. This is not so for the servants, however. The pair outlines all the fun to be had in the service quarters, such as the kitchen pantry, the stable and behind the garden.
Although the large cast precludes individual mention, special acknowledgement must go to Doug Clemons, who makes a dashing triple-threat as Algernon; Peyton Oseth as the book-adverse Cecily, Jack’s ward: Carol Grief as the sly Miss Prism, Cecily’s tutor; and Kristin Hammargren as the scintillating Gwendolen.
In Tandem Theater has formed a first-time collaboration with Milwaukee Opera Theater on this production, and the result is a collection of Milwaukee’s finest actors and the city’s best voices. In short, Earnest in Love is a triumph. But there’s no fear that such praise will inflate the egos of the show’s co-founders and producers. Jane Flieller still greets patrons at the box office and chats with them at intermission. Her husband Chris, the other co-founder, is first seen as a dapper bartender in the lobby. What he’s wearing is literally part of Fleiller’s costume, as he doubles as a servant in the first and final scenes. He’s also part of the crazily choreographed scene changes, in which a crew of “servants” bustle about with chairs and settees and tea sets. The well-timed arrangement of these props is as entertaining as the show itself, making this one of the happiest shows of the season.
