AUSTEN'S SENSE AND SENSIBILITIES: THE MUSICAL

Tonight I went to Wellesley College, wondering how anyone could turn Sense and Sensibilities into a musical that would keep my bottom sitting in a chair for nearly 3 hours.  Well, I was really surprised, some people did.  Neal Hampton, composer/lyricist and Jeffrey Haddow, writer shocked me with their success at doing just that.

With a really fine cast of actors and singers, they were able to take the story, pare it down to its essence, write songs.that were relevant, touching, and fit the story perfectly.  They dropped the little sister Margaret but essentially left everyone else it that mattered.  The fine tuning of the writing made it possible.  Jeffrey Haddow was able to keep all essential dialogue to make the story very clear without having to 'mark time' to get to any action.

The singular drawback, aside from tall people sitting in front of me who blocked my view of the stage, was  the mikes' distorted sound and lyrics.  However, I treated it as an opera.  I knew the story so well, and listened to the music with such enjoyment that, if I missed some of the lyrics it was the same as watching an opera in a foreign language.  The plot and emotions were clear.