Word: algernon
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
News Editor John N. Rosenthal '87 Night Editors J. Lynne Belcove '89 John Halifax, Esq. '87 J. Fernando Kahn '87 S. Lionel Lichtman '88 B. Allison Masters '89 J. Nicholas Rosenthal '87 M. Algernon Saal '87 Editorial Editor N. Sigmund Wurf '87 Features Editors M. Estelle Harris '88 J. Lynn Mnookin '88 Sports Editor J. Arabella Dorman '88 Copy Editor Sarah Bayliss '87 Business Editor Amy J. Merritt '89 Photography Editor John C. Vincent...
...gothic novel described the exotic terrors of old feudal keeps. In the gaslight era, the supernatural took hold of the public imagination, and British authors quickly dominated the field. Their very names suggest creaking Victorian stairways, forbidden rooms and disembodied spirits: Montague Rhodes James, J.S. Le Fanu, Eden Phillpotts, Algernon Blackwood. In the U.S., an alcoholic and sickly journalist led readers down dark corridors that still echo in American and European fiction. Edgar Allan Poe was, wrote D.H. Lawrence, "an adventurer into the vaults and cellars and horrible underground passages of the human soul." He told of disintegrating bodies...
Paolo Carozza's Ernest, by contrast, lacks some of the necessary dash. Whether this is inherent in the part or not, he is, unfortunately, upstaged by Algernon. As Jack's beloved Gwendolyn, Anne Higgins is marvelously coy, delivering her studied and empty superlatives with necessary aplomb...
...catch all of Wilde's humor. But this production does an admirable job of highlighting as much as possible. The timing, thanks to Director John Wauck, is superb, as the actors jump from one-liner to one-liner. Though the cast is consistently good, Chris Charron's, imperturbable Algernon and Valerie Gilbert's haughty Lady Bracknel steal the show...
Wauck has also devised simple and effective sets which suggest the fragility of the superficial English society. Although most of the costumes are nattily effective, Gwendolyn's wig makes her look more like a Muppet then a bombshell, and Algernon's disguise as Jack's devilish brother Ernest looks more like a recent arrival from Palm Beach...