There's certainly plenty of developments to address on the musical front, what with shows posting closing notices left and right, and quite a few others rumored to be closing soon as well. And I'm also planning a series of posts with my choices for the best and worst musicals of the first decade of the 2000s. Look for more on show closings and end-of-the-decade lists in the days to come.
But first, I wanted to talk about a recent press release that I got from the Irish Repertory Theatre. I've been getting a lot of press invites and news releases lately, so much so that I almost deleted this particular email without reading it. But then I caught the name of the show in question in the subject line: Ernest in Love. And my heart swooned a little.
I've always had a very soft place in my heart for Ernest in Love, which is a musical version of Oscar Wilde's comic masterwork, The Importance of Being Earnest. First off, my first name is actually Ernest. I go by middle name, Chris, because my father goes by Ernest, and so did my grandfather, and since he was living with the family at the time of my birth, that was a few too many Ernies for my mother to contend with. So I've always been known as Chris. But I also did Ernest in Love in college, with a cast and crew that comprised many of my best friends from college, a significant number of whom remain close and dear friends to this day. (Ricky, Mikey, and Kerry: I adore you one and all.)
But sentimental attachments aside, Ernest in Love is also a damn fine little show, at least in my possibly revisionist recollections, with a rousing and tuneful score by Anne Croswell (music) and Lee Pockriss (lyrics). The show had a very short run Off Broadway in 1960, but received a cast recording that, until it was recently released on CD, was one of the most valuable and collectible cast recordings on LP. The recording is unfortunately hampered by some rather weak male singing voices, but the females are an unqualified delight. It's one of those scores that I return to again and again, and never fails to put a smile on my face.
The folks at the Irish Rep have certainly brought in some talented Broadway ringers for the cast, including Noah Racey as Jack Worthing and Beth Fowler as Lady Bracknell. But will the production do justice to my (impossibly?) fond memories of the show? Or am I simply glorifying Ernest in Love in hindsight? Watch for my review in early January.
