Some people can’t leave others’ lives well enough alone, especially when it comes to relationships. Emma Woodhouse from Jane Austen’s 1815 novel Emma takes the cake in that department, playing matchmaker to everyone around her whether the pairings make sense or not.
Paul Gordon’s “Jane Austen’s Emma, the Musical,” continuing at Chance Theater through Dec. 22, tells that story through gorgeous songs accompanied only by lilting piano (fluidly played by Lex Leigh) and confidently directed by Casey Long.
The entire cast of characters sings gorgeously as well, especially leads Emma (Mandy Foster), Mr. Knightley (Jeff Lowe) and Emma’s friend Harriet (Sadie Alexander) – whose heart Emma cringingly yet humorously ignores.
Simple period costuming by Bruce Goodrich (with wigs by Haven Hanson) elegantly reflects the high-waisted empire dresses of the time, with the men in patterned waistcoats. The set (designed by Masako Tobaru and James Markoski) is also refreshingly simple but more modern, featuring a wooden stage surrounded by wood panels, with video projection helping set the scenes.
A cast of a dozen engaging actors brings to life the social scene at Highbury, the English village where Emma lives with her elderly father Mr. Woodhouse (Glenn Koppel) in a life of privilege. Foster beautifully embodies Emma’s refinement and droll arrogance as she “humbly” discusses her expertise at matchmaking with the slightly older and wiser Mr. Knightley.
Knightley’s brother is married to Emma’s older sister, making them sort of family though not really related – a point that comes up a few times in song – and also explains why he seems to be at her house a lot, calling her out on her assumptions and at one point truly admonishing her in “Badly Done” on how she should have known better about demeaning a woman in a backhanded way.
Meanwhile, though, Emma spends most of the time trying to set up Harriet with a rich Mr. Elton (Davide Costa), never mind that Harriet is already in love with a farmer named Robert Martin (Luc Clopton), whose name she longingly and amusingly repeats in the song “Mr. Robert Martin” as she strives to go along with Emma’s plans for her.
For herself, Emma decides that one Mr. Churchill (Blake Rhiner) would be her best match, though all he ever sings about is how much “It Feels Like Home” in Highbury, not saying who he feels at home with. Emma also has a nemesis, the “perfect” yet actually humble Jane Fairfax (Sierra Jimenez).
These threads and more get miraculously woven together through the course of the play, which features about 20 varied songs with several reprised, along with occasional delightful dancing. It’s at a pivotal ball that Harriet sings “Humiliation” when she feels spurned by Mr. Elton, and then delighted when Mr. Knightley chivalrously asks her to dance – a beautifully crafted scene that makes palpable those secret feelings of rejection we all have on occasion and how much it means to be “rescued.”
Not much else happens besides the interactions among these lively characters, their relationships often going wrong because of Emma’s machinations. But stellar singing and playful humor keep us engaged, with some actors playing up the camp in their one-dimensional roles, some almost like Disney characters.
The story is Austen at her most scheming but here set to transporting music with very talented singing and acting, especially Foster as Emma and fellow leads Lowe and Alexander. Songs reveal the characters’ underlying feelings, from subtle emotions of humiliation, doubt, longing and remorse to the overt joys of love and friendship – a lovely way to experience the novel’s social portrait of humanity.
“Jane Austen’s Emma, the Musical” continues through Dec. 22 at Chance Theater, 5522 E. La Palma Ave., Anaheim, with shows Wednesday and Thursday at 7:45 p.m., Friday at 8:00 p.m., Saturday at 3:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., and Sunday at 3:00 p.m. For tickets and information, call (888) 455-4212 or visit ChanceTheater.com. Run time is 2 hours and 30 minutes, including intermission.
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