I was both really excited and really nervous about seeing this show – excited because I’d been waiting to see it for years, and nervous that it wasn’t going to be as wonderful as the show I’d been waiting to see for years. Kristal came along too, because I had hyped the show up for so long, so I was a little bit worried that she wouldn’t like it either.
I was also really excited to see the wonderful Marla Schaffel again, after having seen her in Titanic a couple of times before. She is just one of my very favourite female performers, and she was absolutely brilliant in this show. She’s onstage nearly every minute of the show, and absolutely shines for each one of them.
The show starts in Mrs. Reed’s house – not with her parent’s death. Jane is not locked in the room, but is playing in the attic with her rag doll and her book, when John comes up and taunts her, wrecks the book she’s reading, and then blames it on her. When she denies it to Mrs. Reed, she is taken to Lowood. There is a new motif for Jane, called “Sweet Liberty”, that seems to replace “Silent Rebellion” from the old show. This is all in a new song called “Orphan”. She lashes out at Mrs. Reed in front of the class when she is introduced – I always assumed that scene took place at Mrs. Reed’s house, like it does in the book. Oh, and the adult Jane is present for all of this, watching.
Helen is strapped for speaking to Jane while she is being punished, and then sings “Forgiveness” as they are cleaning the room. She also introduces the “Brave Enough for Love” theme here. Jane and Helen have a place in the woods where they go and talk together, but Jane is left playing alone once Helen is struck with typhus. “My Maker” is quite a bit shorter and much changed, but still very moving. I liked Jayne Paterson as Helen, but I don’t think anybody could totally compare to Angela Lockett’s purity and sweetness of voice. Young Jane goes to Helen’s gravesite, and says how she does it everyday, and this is where the transformation is made to the adult Jane, who still visits the grave daily. This is also where the introduction of the chorus into the show takes place.
| The “Sweet Liberty” theme is reprised as Jane yearns for something outside of life at Lowood. Hardly anything is explained of her arranging to go to Thornfield though – she just goes. Mary Stout as Mrs. Fairfax was very funny, as usual, and Adèle was too adorable!
I *loved* the scene where Jane and Rochester met!! I have to admit I was prepared to dislike James Barbour for the simple fact that he was not Anthony Crivello, but he won me over in very little time at all. He does not look 20 years older than Marla though! 🙂 I also loved him in the next scene, and when he and Jane are speaking of her being an elf, Adèle is amazed: “Mademoiselle is a fairy?!”, and goes over to examine her – so cute! His “As Good As You” was wonderful – the first song they’d left untouched from the original version. They did, however, take out Jane’s little bit beforehand about “You’re afraid you may discover how much you really love her” – I missed that. |
 Kristal and James Barbour |
The scene of Bertha setting the bed on fire didn’t seem very realistic to me, but I suppose it got the point across. “Secret Soul” was lovely – their two voices sound beautiful together. I also loved how Jane did the little “Painting his portrait” thing. Jane is awakened early the next day to help get ready for guests – the Ingrams. Blanche now sings a song called “The Finer Things”, which didn’t totally work for me. Elizabeth Degrazia was out, which I expected, but still disappointed me. The understudy, Erica Schroder, was fine though, and it was very funny how she kept pushing Adèle away whenever Rochester wasn’t watching. Oh, and when she was singing and twirling around the room, and Rochester went to take her by the hands, and she waltzed right by him – the look on James’ face was hilarious!
I really liked James’ reaction to Mason’s arrival, and “The Pledge” was very nice. I actually found Mason’s song quite touching, and the way it was reprised later as a theme for Jane and Rochester was very clever. I wanted to smack Rochester when he asks her if she’ll sit up with him the night before his wedding – jerk! 🙂
 Me and James Barbour |
“Painting Her Portrait” was every bit as brilliant as I expected. If, for some strange reason, there was anyone in the audience who wasn’t on Jane’s side before, this song clinched it.
“In the Light of the Virgin Morning” is such by Blanche and Jane in the garden – Jane singing of how she loves Thornfield and Rochester, and Blanche of how she’ll sell the one and “try ” to love the other. “The Gypsy” was pretty good, but there wasn’t really that changing voice in mid-sentence thing that’s on the Canadian recording. The Gypsy is listed in the playbill as being played by Marje Bubrosa … the wife of Ken Labey, perhaps? 😉 |
“The Proposal” was so wonderful – Marla’s grief was almost tangible, and her subsequent confusion and joy were all the more touching. I also loved James’ Irish accent when he’s talking about sending her to Ireland. 🙂 And when she came in during “Slip of a Girl”, when Adèle asks her, “It is true, mam’selle?”, she gleefully replied, “Yes, it is!” and picked Adèle up and twirled her around. It was such a change from what we’d seen of Jane’s character, and very sweet. The wedding dress was beautiful!! I want one. 🙂
For a moment, I was afraid they were going to make Jane look beautiful for the wedding, but thankfully they left her as she was (not that Marla isn’t always beautiful, but you know!). I thought James could have ben a little more upset durig the wedding and his explanatory song “Wild Boy”, although when he got on his knees when she said she had to leave, that was totally working for me. 🙂 This is also when they brought back the “Sirens” song that Mason had sung earlier.
I was so relieved when I checked my playbill (the first thing I did upon entering the theatre, actually), to ensure that “Farewell, Good Angel” was still in the show. And he sang it beautifully, but they removed my favourite verse! 🙁 It began with a new verse, then into the “I was wrong when I deceived you” but, and then the second verse was the “So farewell, good angel” part. Which left out the second verse from the Toronto production of “It was not your frame I wanted”. But, it was still wonderful, so I can’t complain too much! 🙂
| The way they show the fire is very odd – I mean, I knew what it was, because I knew what was going to happen, but I think if you didn’t, it would have seemed very strange.
You may have noticed we’ve missed one key plot point up to this time – that being Jane’s return to Gateshead to see Mrs. Reed. Well, when she leaves Thornfield and is wandering through the moor, it’s Gateshead she arrives at – not the Rivers’. St. John is there, but as Mrs. Reed’s vicar, and no mention is made of he and Jane being related. The “Forgiveness” reprise was very nice, and I loved how young Jane passed by the adult Jane on her way to Mrs. Reed’s room, and then came to the other side of the bed. The “courtship”, if you can call it that, of St. John and Jane is extremely short, and his proposal seems to come out of the blue (with Kristal beside me going, “No! She can’t marry him! No!” :-). |
 Me and Marla Schaffel |
It’s Mason that Jane encounters on her return to Thornfield, and he is lying flowers at Bertha’s grave, in a reprise of the scene at Helen’s grave. He tells her what happened, and she runs to see Rochester – whose appearance they a good job of transforming. The ending is every bit as sweet and beautiful as always, and when they sang the final chorus of “Brave Enough for Love” to the baby, I was sobbing. 🙂
Overall, it’s almost a completely different show from Toronto – one of my friends compared it to the changes that were made to the Scarlet Pimpernel – and apparently more changes are still in the works. But it is still the same beautiful story, beautiful music, and a wonderful cast. I would love to see it again.
The Quotes:
“In winter, it gets positively Canadian!”
Mrs. Fairfax, talking about how cold Thornfield is
“Matt who?”
Kristal, after “The Proposal”
The cast: (in order of appearance)
|
Jane Eyre |
MARLA SCHAFFEL |
|
Young Jane |
LISE MUSSER |
|
Young John Reed |
LEE ZARRETT |
|
Mrs. Reed |
GINA FERRALL |
|
Mr. Brocklehurst |
DON RICHARD |
|
Miss Scratcherd |
MARGUERITE MacINTYRE |
|
Marigold |
MARY STOUT |
|
Helen Burns |
JAYNE PATERSON |
|
Schoolgirls |
NELL BALABAN |
|
Mrs. Fairfax |
MARY STOUT |
|
Robert |
BRUCE DOW |
|
Adèle |
ANDREA BOWEN |
|
Grace Poole |
NELL BALABAN |
|
Edward Fairfax Rochester |
JAMES BARBOUR |
|
Bertha |
MARGUERITE MacINTYRE |
|
Blanche Ingram |
ERICA SCHROEDER |
|
Lady Ingram |
GINA FERRALL |
|
Mary Ingram |
JAYNE PATERSON |
|
Young Lord Ingram |
LEE ZARRETT |
|
Mr. Eshton |
STEPHEN R. BUNTROCK |
|
Amy Eshton |
NELL BALABAN |
|
Louisa Eshton |
GINA LAMPARELLA |
|
Colonel Dent |
DON RICHARD |
|
Mrs. Dent |
MARGUERITE MacINTYRE |
|
Richard Mason |
BILL NOLTE |
|
The Gypsy |
MARJE BUBROSA |
|
Vicar |
DON RICHARD |
|
St. John Rivers |
STEPHEN R. BUNTROCK |