Jane Austen is not a writer whose work you’d automatically consider as material for a full-blown, unironic musical. It’s true that all six of her books center around the marriage plot, and there’s usually a large and colorful supporting cast, including someone who can be counted on to play the pianoforte at a party, and sometimes one of the heroes will even say or write something absolutely swoon-worthy like “You pierce my soul.”
Elinor needs to remain sensible. She and Marianne, at 19 and 17, are all alone in the world. (In this adaptation, they have been divested of their mother and younger sister.) Their father has recently died, and their older half brother, who inherited everything, has been persuaded by his greedy, nasty wife to cut them off completely. A good-hearted cousin, Lord Middleton, invites them to live on a small cottage on his estate, an offer they gratefully accept, although it will take them from Elinor’s diffident suitor, Edward Ferrars. At their new home, they encounter Lord Middleton’s cheerfully meddlesome mother-in-law, Mrs. Jennings; his friend, Colonel Brandon, a grave gentleman “on the wrong side of five and thirty;” and Mr. Willoughby, a dashing neighbor who shares Marianne’s love of Byron and Keats. Complications ensue.
Through 6/7: Wed 1 and 7:30 PM, Thu-Fri 7:30 PM, Sat 3 and 8 PM, Sun 2 PM; also Tue 5/12 and 6/12, 7:30; Thu 5/14, 1 PM; Sun 5/24, 6:30 PM Chicago Shakespeare Theater 800 E. Grand 312-667-4968chicagoshakes.com $58-$88
