Isn’t is nice to know that a month in a medieval castle in Italy is just the right prescription to shake off the blues? An Enchanted April is a new musical from the Utah Lyric Opera having its New York premiere. The story is an adaptation of Elizabeth Von Arnim’s 1922 bestselling novel. The stifling and endless rain in London prompts four dissimilar women to pause for a moment and take a holiday.
This castle is overflowing with wisteria and enveloped in life altering beauty. Lotty Wilkins and Rose Arbuthnot belong to the same ladies’ club. They are not acquainted until Lotty strikes up a conversation. She is reading a newspaper and sees an ad for San Salvatore. A month long trip is proposed. Rose thinks Lotty is quite mad and unbalanced. Eventually these two women will bond over their unhappy marriages.
Lotty is the dutiful wife to her unappreciative lawyer husband Mellersh (Jim Stanek). Rose is a quiet type who is absorbed with her charity work. Her husband Frederick is an author of lurid and titillating novels. This couple’s relationship my be approaching a dead end. Their duet, “Everything Was Changed,” is the best song in the show.
Lotty is boisterous and fun. She doesn’t “mean to be presumptuous and rude, I just am.” Rose sulks into her books but nervously and excitedly agrees to take the trip. The rental is very costly, however, so they recruit two additional women to join them.
Mrs. Fisher (Alma Cuervo) is an elderly lady still clinging to her proper Victorian ideals. She believes “women’s heads are not for thinking.” Lady Caroline Dester (Gena Sims) is newly engaged but desperately wants to escape the burdens of London society and her celebrity in order to think. World War I and other tragedies have impacted everyone’s life and mood. Breathing in the fresh air should be a restorative therapy.
Toss in the castle’s current owner, Thomas Briggs (Peter Reid Lambert), and the gong happy maid, Francesca (Melody Meeks Putnam), and you’ve got a spicy bucatini arrabiata. Well, not exactly. These are English stereotypes from 1922 after all. An Enchanted April is more of a pesto; herbaceous, comforting, recognizable and easily enjoyable, if a tad cheesy.
Elizabeth Hansen and C. Michael Perry wrote this musical. The score and tone fit seamlessly with the story. Rhymes are often fun, such as “rules” and “drools.” William Armstrong’s scenic and lighting design transports these women from depressing London to glorious Tuscany on a shoestring budget. Alice Jankell’s direction uses limited space creatively which readily accommodates both intimate conversations and awkward tea parties.
An Enchanted April is a sentimental, romantic trifle. There should be a large audience eager to see this musical, especially in regional theaters. The show could definitely benefit from a little editing. Seven reprises is probably too many. There may be more solos than necessary as well. Stylistically, the frequent belting vocals seem slightly incongruous with the period.
From start to finish, however, this musical aims to please and entertain. On that level it succeeds. The entire cast created nice characterizations and made their story arcs believable without being hokey. Or, rather, just the right amount of hokey. Romance, relaxation, reflection and reinvention was in the air!
Christiana Cole’s singing as the introverted Rose was richly melodic. Leah Hocking’s Lotty is humorously dotty and her facial expressions were priceless. She sums up San Salvatore in the way I might regard this tuneful new musical. “We might not need a dungeon… but it is nice to have.”