It captured the essence of the story

A review of the new musical based on Jane Eyre recently premiered in Redlands, California has been published in the Redlands Daily Facts:

LifeHouse's new musical "Jane Eyre" accomplished what I think is most important in the adaptation of a book: It captured the essence of the story.
"Jane Eyre," the 46th new musical in the theater's 14 years, is based on the novel by Charlotte Bronte. Of all the books I had to read in high school, it was one of the few I liked. I have read it a few times since then.
Jane (Jennifer DeWitt) has a Dickensian childhood and becomes a governess at an estate in England. She and the master of the house, Edward Rochester (Tedd Smith), fall in love and plan to be married before the revelation of a mystery and Jane's morals force her to leave.
LifeHouse is, of course, a Christian theater, and works Christian themes into all its productions. In the case of "Jane Eyre," it was in line with the book. Producer Wayne Scott in his message in the program cited Jane's reliance on God in the novel.
Blending Christian themes into "Jane Eyre" enhanced the show and stayed true to the source material (why change a good story?). I could tell that some of the dialogue came straight from the book, which I thought was cool.
The production depicted some of the key scenes very well, such as Rochester's and St. John Rivers' proposals to Jane. The scene in which Rochester disguises himself as a fortune teller to discover Jane's true feelings was funny - I could tell Smith particularly got a kick out of that scene.
LifeHouse made good use of the theme of God caring for orphans and the lonely. This was particularly embodied in the character of Helen Burns, Jane's school friend.
The action moved quickly and hit all the main points of the story. The one deviation was that Rochester stays at the ruins of Thornfield instead of living in a smaller house after the fire. The scene when Jane comes back is one of the best and most satisfying in the book, and LifeHouse handled the second half of that better than the first. Rochester's physical condition in the last scene was also a departure from the novel - but I won't give anything away.
DeWitt did well as Jane - reserved yet outspoken at times, intelligent, compassionate. Her character made the most of her circumstances, an important trait Jane has in the novel.
Smith as Rochester was robust and lively, not quite as stormy as Bronte paints him. Both of them have good singing voices.
Shannon Michel as the servant Hannah was funny and Jeremy Yeo as St. John played the straight arrow well. Michelle Nelson as young Jane was very good, both acting and singing. Kayla Curtis was endearing as Adele, Rochester's ward.
Garbiel Arroyo as Mr. Brocklehurst, Nicole Prusa as Grace Poole and JulieAnn Thomazin as Blanche Ingram gave good character performances.
Because I've read the book a few times, I focused more on the story than the songs. A few of the songs were memorable - "Work Song" and "Could He Love Me?" played in my head after I left. Unlike some musicals, which seem to have songs wedged into the story, the songs complemented the story. The script, music and lyrics were by Jana Smith and additional music and lyrics were by Scott and Brad Roseborough. "Jane Eyre" was directed by Deborah Race.
The choreography by Dustin Ceithamer was appropriate for the scene - the orphan girls were more solemn than in "Annie," for example. "Perfection," an ensemble number, was fun and lent comic relief.
The show started 10 minutes late and the spotlight seemed slow in following the action. But it was opening night, so I will leave a little wiggle room for jitters and glitches.
One last point: I know LifeHouse is in the business of musicals, but I think it would have been interesting if "Jane Eyre" hadn't been done as a musical. It is a good enough story to stand on its own without songs. But as I said before, the songs didn't detract anything, either. (Joy Juedes)

Categories: Jane Eyre, Music, Theatre