'The Enchanted April' Review

Sarah Hunnewell, the director of the Hampton Theatre Company in Quogue has done some rewarding searching and come up with the original 1925 script of Kane Campbell’s “The Enchanted April.” This production, which Ms. Hunnewell brought to the company’s stage, fairly glows in its warm authenticity as a gentle and genteel British romantic comedy—the sort that permeated the London and New York stages of the early decades of the 20th century.

Nothing surprising occurs to ruffle the surface of this fascinating comedy. What happens, happens because it naturally happens.

“The Enchanted April” might be described as the triumph of the inevitable. And yet this unfolding of the tale of four British ladies, who determine to escape from the dull predictability of a London spring by renting a small castle on the Italian Riviera for the month of April, is an enchanting realization.

These wives are fascinating in and of themselves, particularly the oppressive Ms. William Fisher who, before Italy and April muddle her fixed nature, seems cast in bronze. Diana Marbury carries the role into satisfying, gentle humor.

And Jessica Forsythe’s compellingly lovely and engrossing portrait of Lady Caroline Dester, an exquisite beauty dusted by sadness and therefore unendingly desirable to any man who enters her orbit, speaks volumes by the mere lift of an eyebrow. Lady Caroline floats through her Italian spring, and, though the entire cast sports the portrait-perfect period costumes of Teresa LeBrun, none are inhabited with more rightness than those of Ms. Forsythe.

This is not to say that every single member of the virtually faultless ensemble crafted by Ms. Hunnewell is not deserving of special mention. There’s not a single merely adequate performance in the entire evening, from Rosemary Cline’s adventurous one to Edward Brennan’s stuffy Brit and especially and memorably, the dazzling performance of Debbie Starker, entirely in Italian, whether she’s singing or leading her British tourists on a merry chase through the bewildering byways of her native tongue and customs.

In fact, “The Enchanted April” is one of the HTC’s most meticulously and creatively realized productions within memory. James Ewing and Ms. Marbury’s set—which undergoes a magical and applause-arousing transformation from the dreary monochrome of the ladies’ lives in London to the riot of color and life in Italy—brought to elegant life by Sebastian Paczynski’s lighting design, is heart stopping.

The Hampton Theatre Company’s production of “Enchanted April” will stage at the Quogue Community Hall on Thursday, June 2, Friday, June 3, and Saturday, June 4, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, June 5, at 2:30 p.m. The play will run through Sunday, June 12, on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $25 for adults, $23 for seniors and $10 for students under 21. Seniors pay full price on Saturday nights. (866) 811-4111 | 653-8955 | hamptontheatre.org.