Review Roundup: PRIDE AND PREJUDICE at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley - Read the Reviews!

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley rings in the holidays with the new musical Pride and Prejudice, the 2019 Tony-winning company's 70th World Premiere.

Based on Jane Austen's iconic novel, this engaging work features book, music, and lyrics by Paul Gordon, whose musicals include TheatreWorks favorites Jane Austen's EMMA, Daddy Long Legs, and the Tony-nominated Broadway musical Jane Eyre. Pride and Prejudice follows delightfully liberated Lizzie Bennet and dashing, disdainful Mr. Darcy as they discover the irresistible power of love. A favorite from TheatreWorks's 2018 New Works Festival, this brand new musical romantic comedy will be directed by TheatreWorks's Founding Artistic Director Robert Kelley.

Pride and Prejudice will be presented December 4, 2019 - January 4, 2020 (press opening: December 7) at the Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Rd., Palo Alto. For tickets ($30-$100) and more information the public may visit TheatreWorks.org or call (650) 463-1960.

Let's see what the critics are saying...

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Steve Murray, BroadwayWorld: All the stars have aligned in TheatreWorks engaging World Premiere of Pride and Prejudice, a musical that re-energizes and greatly enhances Jane Austen's popular romantic tale of manners set in the Regency period of England. There's a convergence of shining talents at work here from top down; the Tony-winning creative team from TheatreWorks, the excellent direction from departing Artistic Director Robert Kelley, a superior ensemble cast and the marvelous score and script by Tony-nominee Paul Gordon.

Lily Janiak, Datebook: I once read a description of theater as an art form that "spits on you," and especially for my fellow rabid Janeites, there's a magical quality to experiencing a live version, however imperfect, of a long-beloved story that even an umpteenth reread of the original can't quite pull off. It's that alchemy that happens when bodies are together in a space, when human forms give their own pulsing, idiosyncratic imprint on characters, and you're absorbing that impression not just with your imagination but your skin and nerves and circulatory system - that tingly part of human existence that Austen's characters experience so deeply but have such a hard time talking about.

Jean Schiffman, Examiner: But, while the entire cast comprises strong singers, some of the characters fail to emerge as distinctive or imaginatively idiosyncratic individuals. Especially problematic: Neither Mr. Darcy's anti-social tendencies, nor his ardor, ring true. Other actors - Lucinda Hitchcock Cone's haughty Lady Catherine, Brian Herndon's creepy Mr. Collins, Monique Hafen Adams as Miss Caroline, Heather Orth's fluttery Mrs. Bennet, Melissa WolfKlain's oddball bookworm Mary - register more strongly.

Sam Hurwitt, Mercury News: There's no particular reason why "Pride and Prejudice" shouldn't be a musical, but this latest version doesn't make much a case for it being one either. With some amusing turns of phrase, the songs are tolerable ways to pass the time waiting for each song to end and the sparkling dialogue to resume, but few are particularly engaging in their own right. One notable exception is sister Jane's touching stoic lament "A Man of My Acquaintance."

Henry Etzkowitz, Splash Magazines: A delightful proto-feminist interpretation of Austen's classic, well worth seeing. Everyone worked hard to make such a perspicacious musical possible. Based on a recent reading of Martha Gellhorn's biography, the intrepid 20th century female journalist and author, we wish to nominate her life and relationships for musical, even operatic treatment, in a future Theatreworks update on women's experience.

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