The love between two sisters remains strong despite hardships they face in Jane Austen’s classic novel, “Sense and Sensibility.” That bond is especially apparent in Paul Gordon’s musical version of the novel, which is being presented March 11-20 by the Harper Ensemble Theatre Company at Harper College.
Performances are 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays.
Director Kevin Long, associate professor of theatre at Harper College, had decided to stage a musical based on a Jane Austen novel. “I kept reading version after version and nothing touched my heart like this one does,” the Hoffman Estates resident said.
“This combination of Jane Austen’s writing and Paul Gordon’s music and lyrics is so sublime. There are moments that soar right to your heart. It is the bond between these two sisters that is so incredibly special.”
Sisters Marianne and Elinor Dashwood are played by Madelyn Crivlare and Lindsay Foreman.
Schaumburg resident Crivlare is a freshman in the Performing Arts department at Harper College. She performed in many shows when she attended Hoffman Estates High School, including four musicals.
Crivlare described Marianne as “passionate and wild. She says whatever she thinks is good to say in that moment. At the end of the day, she has true intentions and she loves hard.”
The actor believes that she is somewhat like her character, except, “I’m a little more controlled than her. But definitely I have those outbursts sometimes. And I do love hard and I am passionate. So I have all of her good traits,” Crivlare laughed.
Marianne’s happiness is tied to her sister, the actor said. Slipping into character, Crivlare said, “I see our father in Elinor so whenever I’m with Elinor I feel closer to the family in general.”
The most difficult aspect of this role, Crivlare said, is “having to be rude and be inconsiderate when it’s so clear to not be.”
Chicagoan Foreman, who gives private voice and piano lessons, is not a Harper student.
“I had to audition because I am a pretty huge Jane Austen fan,” Foreman said. “I’ve been a fan of her novels for many, many years, and I had the good fortune of seeing Paul Gordon’s production of the show in 2015 at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. I went home and I immediately ordered the CD and I bought the score.”
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Foreman earned a degree in musical theater from Western Michigan University and has performed in musicals since she was a child.
“Elinor is definitely one of my favorite of Jane Austen’s heroes,” Foreman said. “She’s so selfless and at every moment she is trying to provide ease to everyone around her and take in whatever emotions they are feeling and give them back some kind of comfort. She is equally as passionate as Marianne. She just knows how to keep her emotions reigned in.”
Foreman noted that Elinor wants to protect her sister. “She wants her sister to be safe and happy and healthy,” the actor said.
Foreman believes that Gordon’s songs help the audience to understand Elinor’s inner struggles.
Long agreed that the score allows stoic Elinor to share her thoughts and feelings with the audience. There are also times when multiple characters simultaneously reveal what they are thinking to the audience.
“Three people singing at the same time, all expressing inner thoughts, takes your heart right where it needs to go,” Long said.
Long is impressed with the skillful way in which Gordon has condensed the novel but it does offer some staging challenges.
“There’s one time where the sisters and the couple that’s taking care of them arrive in London,” he said. “Within the same song, within one measure, Marianne is writing a letter — that’s 14 days later.” This change of time has to be communicated to the audience. Scenes tend to flow into one another in Gordon’s musical.
Long reported that he has worked closely with the lighting designer, John Sanchez, who has figured out a way to let the audience know when a particular character is the focus. The production team also includes music director Kailey Rockwell, scenic designer Lauren Nichols, costume designer Jane DeBondt, sound designer Jenna Moran, production stage manager Kate Stewart, assistant stage manager Alyssa Maslanka, dramaturg Lori Mulligan Davis, choreographer Tammy Ravitts Bretscher, and props master Emma Ferguson.
Long has also been in contact with Paul Gordon, who he said has generously offered clarification and accepted small changes that the director suggested.
“Our entire team had been talking for months before the cast came in to make this as fluid and as specific as possible,” Long said. “And I think the solutions we came up with are really artistic and specific.”
‘Sense and Sensibility’
When: March 11-20
Where: Harper Ensemble Theatre Company, Harper College, 1200 W. Algonquin Road, Palatine
Tickets: $15-$25
Information: 847-925-6100: events.harpercollege.edu/event/sense_and_sensibility
Myrna Petlicki is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.