Moss Hart, Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin must have had copies of Hamlet firmly in hand while collaborating on Lady in the Dark. The protagonist of this 1941 musical, Liza Elliott, is repeatedly faulted as a woman who, like our favorite Dane, "can't make up her mind."
For Penn's Theatre Arts Program, Lady in the Dark represents an ambitious undertaking. Not only is this musical little-known outside theatrical circles, but it is far more complex than your average Broadway fare. The characters are multi-dimensional, and the score, while at times moving, isn't particularly catchy.
However, the 10 actors involved in this weekend's production under David Fox's able direction, pull off this difficult musical impressively. The audience is taken on a surreal yet enjoyable ride through Liza Elliott's imagination.
Liza, played ably by College senior Jenny Weiss, is the editor-in-chief of Allure magazine. As the play begins, the audience watches Liza's first session of psychoanalysis -- a distrusted science in 1941. Her psychoanalyst is Dr. Brooks, played by Caroline Gordon, who proves herself a versatile actress. She glides in and out of Liza's reality as a stern doctor, but appears repeatedly in her patient's dreams as whimsical characters -- a circus ringleader, for one.
As the musical progresses, the audience learns of Liza's present and her past, not just through a series of psychoanalytic sessions, but through dream-like song and dance numbers intended to cure her problems by probing her subconscious. Weiss shines most in these dream sequences, transforming the staid Liza into everything from a shy high schooler to a seductive glamour girl.
Of the supporting performers, grad student Aaron Dinkin excels as the wise-cracking advertising rep Charley, initially the bane of Liza's existence at Allure, but eventually much more. College junior Jillian Ivey is memorable as stereotypical fashion columnist Alison; she drips with disdain for those not as chic as she and is responsible for most of the musical's major laughs.
The entire cast can be credited with capturing the deeply Freudian quality of the script and rendering the most bizarre situations believable and eminently watchable. This musical is worth your two hours even if your exposure to musicals is limited to the Julie Andrews oeuvre. You'll leave the theater provoked by the Lady in the Dark and will want to probe your own subconscious desires to see if there's a trapeze artist or a supermodel waiting to jump out.
