And the lightning strikes inside her as she looks to the sky/ And she pledges to spread her wings...
I just went to see Jane Eyre: The Musical at Footlite, and I want to get my impressions down before I forget them. Yes, it was that good. It was AMAZING.
I've been a fan of JEtM for a couple of years, ever since Whitney introduced it to me, and I'm so sad she couldn't come, because there were a couple of places I laughed that only she would have understood. And ever since then I've been hoping that Footlite would do it, and now they have! You can probably tell that this is one of those things that, going in, I was determined to love, regardless. But it was certainly worthy of my love, and ABFG, who went with me, was not likewise determined to love it-- was in fact pretty sure she wouldn't-- and she enjoyed it a lot, too!
Okay, so you come in and the set is mostly bare, with a large painting of Jane in the style of that famous sketch of Charlotte Bronte and an open trapdoor. Which immediately made me think, "Hee hee! Because it opens in the AtticAtticAtticAttic!" Which it does, of course. The girl who played young Jane was fabulous-- a really talented little actress. And I loved all the mirroring they did between Young Jane and Jane as far as posture and motion went. They changed some of the lyrics in the opening song. Most of the lyric changes from the Broadway soundtrack I thought were for the better, but this was one of the few exceptions. Oh, well. They kept my favorite part of the song: "She swallows her rebellion/ But there's a storm within her breast/ She tries to quell the downpour/ Yet cannot tame her soul's unrest/ And the lightning strikes inside her/ As she looks to the sky/ And she pledges to spread her wings/ Through a hurricane she'll fly/ Over mountains, over oceans..."
I suppose this is a good part to say that Brenna Campbell, who played Jane, was PERFECT. Absolutely perfect in every way. She looked like Jane Eyre, she acted like Jane Eyre, and by God she could sing Jane Eyre. Of course, I'm not the best judge of singing, but. She was really good. And she captured Jane so, so well-- her intensity and vulnerability, her purity and her passion. The only song where I thought she could have given a little bit more was the end of "Painting her Portrait," but even that was done excellently. A little ways into the show I discovered the joy of just looking at her at random moments and enjoying the look on her face, because she was always so involved in what was going on, she was always giving something. During "The Finer Things," I caught her giving Blanche Ingram a death glare so perfect that it was hilarious. She was shy and reticent at all the right places, and falling over herself to be helpful when she should and actually very assertive in the beginning scenes with Rochester, like the interview scene which used to be the song "The Governess" but sadly is not anymore, which I found delightful. There were great moments of nuance.
Rochester was a bit unexpected. He probably looked, however, more like Charlotte Bronte imagined Rochester to look than most actors you see portraying him. Sometimes his characterization seemed a little off, and he flubbed dialogue a couple of times, but only someone who knew all the words would have noticed. When I say the characterization was "off," I mostly mean that... he lacked some of Rochester's charisma, I suppose, that element that lets him get away with being Rochester. But he did a good job switching from Feisty!Rochester to moody, contemplative Rochester at the drop of a hat. And he grew on me as the show went on.
For the most part, I really loved how they developed Jane and Rochester's chemistry. Even with the untraditional appearance of the couple, they created moments where you could really see the chemistry and the connection between them, which was wonderful. I feel like I know more about Rochester and Jane as characters from watching it. It came mostly from touch, I think-- the first time I noticed it was after "As Good as You" when Rochester almost touches Jane's face as he's saying, "I, with some luck/ Without shame, without blame, or the curse of my name/ Might have been as good as you." Where it was noticeably missing was after the bed fire, and it really needed to be there, because from there it launches straight into "Secret Soul," and we need to know WHY Jane is in love with Rochester before she starts singing about it. It would have been much better if they'd lingered a little longer, and if Rochester had actually taken her hand and actually tried to stop her from leaving. "My cherished preserver, goodnight. What, will you go?" "I am cold, sir." "Cold... yes, of course you are." But it came back full force after that, in "The Pledge" and all throughout Act II. It was really delightful in The Proposal-- the first time Rochester kisses Jane was just perfect. Just this perfect blend of tenderness and romance. And, of course, when they were reunited... lovely.
Lowood was good, those girls sang very well. There were some lyric replacements in "Children of God" that I like, and which I wish I could remember. Something ending with "Ever blessed are the meek." Helen was a great singer, but needed to get her hair out of her face and act like she believed what she was saying more. She did well with Young Jane, but I wish she hadn't done the Dramatic Arm Flop of Death. "The Graveyard" was done perfectly-- I wasn't sure how it would look done live, but Jane Growing Up came across very well. Hmm... I think I covered most of the Rochester/ Jane stuff in that last paragraph there. Oh! My former drama teacher Mrs. Horrigan was Mrs. Fairfax, and she did a great job. I've heard people say that she didn't enunciate enough, but I understood everything, and I think I still would have even if I hadn't known the words. She was really funny, flighty, and she actually gave a great amount of heart to the character as well. Adele was annoying. She looked the part, but man, not even Adele Varens is supposed to be like that.
The aristocrats, despite unfortunate wigs, sang very well, and acted very well. Blanche had a great voice. I especially liked Blanche in "In the Light of the Virgin Morning," because I felt sorry for her for the first time watching that song. At the end, she and Jane both had the same expression on their faces, because both were yearning for and not at all confident of getting what they really wanted. They were each trying to resign themselves to a life they didn't want.
The fire was done with smoke effects. Just in case anyone was wondering. And it comes up through the trap door at the end of "Farewell, Good Angel." Of course, after you hear James Barbour do that song, nobody seems as good, but I thought that this one was creditable, probably actually better than Anthony Crivello. Which may just be because he didn't have to say, "Your virtue and your purity bites into me like teeth." Crazy Bertha was creepy. I imagine if you didn't know who she was, you would just be confused, but I found her creepy. And I liked they way they paralleled Jane and Bertha by giving them both dolls and torn-up books to cherish. And how they had Jane peacefully hand those objects back to Bertha, instead of having Bertha attack Jane or similar. That was a really interesting way to play it, and I know it's not original to this production, but I was intrigued by it.
The proposal was choreographed, I guess, very well. Rochester did not look like a mime in a box. When Rochester is going off on his long song-spiel about washing his hands of every youthful crime, etc., he and Jane do a little bit of a circling-each-other-while-staring-intensely thing, as though they really are connected by an invisible string, which was cool. I just wanted to mention that one of the many things I loved about the scene, though, was that when Jane says, "I love Thornfield" and means "I love you," she actually does read the line as, "I love... Thornfield." Believably! It was spectacular! Oh, Whitney, if only you'd been there. Because I did lean over to Nathan and say, "I grieve to leave... it." I didn't add "a vigorous and expanded... mind" because I didn't want to miss the action on stage for the sake of snark.
When Jane goes back to Gateshead, I like that Young Jane is hanging around the whole time, haunting Mrs. Reed, like the ghost of someone who isn't dead yet. It was rather creepy but very effective. I don't know why they replaced the chorus after Mrs. Reed dies, which in the recording I have is "And I pray/ What I know is true/ That come what may/ God's forgiven you" with "Bless those souls/ Who would curse your name/ When the last bell tolls/ You'll be free from blame," because that makes Mrs. Reed's afterlife sound a lot less promising, as she fails to forgive Jane before she dies. Also, I noticed because of this production that St. John, though his part is cut so much, actually does have motivation to ask Jane to marry him and come to India in the musical, and it is Mrs. Reed's deathbed scene. He sees Jane as a woman willing to forgive, almost Christlike, in that scene, and something in him goes, "Aha!" The actor who played St. John did well with the part. He avoided a lot of the mannerisms and line readings which could just make St.John into kind of a joke. He played the whole "marry me and come to India thing" very sincerely, actually, and it made him a lot more sympathetic and less ridiculous. Also, they seem to have cut the lines "Jane, you must be a missionary wife!/ Jane, you will have a visionary life!" which... while I miss them for their silliness, was probably a good move. Also, Nathan informs me that when Jane hugs St.John before chasing Edward's voice off across the moorland skies, he smiles as if to say, "Heh. Boobs." I like that as well. The Voice was cool because it seemed to be projected out of alternating speakers, so that it was coming from everywhere and nowhere.
Mrs. Fairfax now does the "Poor Sister" song, except she says "poor woman" instead, and the lyrics are less comical. There is no more "she jumped to her death for she thought she could fly." I'm glad that that song got altered. It was much more effective and affecting as Mrs. Fairfax told it. This is a part where Mrs. Horrigan really gave Mrs. Fairfax a moment of very human emotion, with her pity and horror of Crazy Bertha and her devotion to Rochester; the scene was played very well.
The reunion scene... oh, man, that gets to me EVERY TIME. I loved the way that Jane and Rochester embraced on the bench as they were singing, "How I've lived without your touch, how I've struggled to survive, only God above can say." He just kind of snuggles her to him and holds her tight, just as he'd done before, but more urgently, more desperately. And then, when they sing to the baby... I LOVE THAT PART SO MUCH! And they played it so well, so tenderly, and you really get "I am a new young mother" from "And I know you're afraid, I'm as scared as you are." I was grinning ear to ear by the end. And several times I made quiet squee-like noises.
For a lot of the fist half, I was lip-synching along, but then I thought, "You know... I'm in the third row. They can probably see me. Perhaps I should stop." So I mostly did. Seeing Jane Eyre the Musical live and in person was a fascinating, completely gratifying and enjoyable experience. I'm so, SO glad I got to go.