Karen LeFebvre and Kiera Lynn in Jane Eyre
Plucky, abused orphans. English-language literature is full of 'em: Dickens' lads Oliver Twist and David Copperfield; Canada's Anne Shirley; America's optimistic Annie; prehistoric Europe's Ayla; contemporary Britain's Harry Potter. One 177-year-old orphan still going strong is Jane Eyre.
Charlotte Brontë's novel, revolutionary in its time and still a masterpiece today, has been adapted as drama, opera, and for film and television. This musical adaptation Jane Eyre, now at the Black Box Theatre, has a book by John Caird and music by Paul Gordon, with lyrics by Gordon and Caird. First workshopped in 1995, it finally made it to Broadway in 2000, earning five Tony nominations. In Moline, director Lora Adams (also the theatre's co-owner and artistic director) and music director Amy Trimble, along with their staff, crew, musicians, and 14-member cast, fit the technically challenging script and score beautifully into this intimate venue.
The descriptor "Gothic romance" brings visions of gloomy mansions with foreboding airs. But that's not simply an overused literary device – large, drafty dwellings without electricity or plumbing actually existed in the mid-1800s. And in real-life English boarding schools, children endured horrific conditions and indiscriminate cruelty. (Charlotte and her siblings lived at one until their father wisely brought them home.) In this production, Em Foster plays young Jane, banished to such a purportedly educational hellscape, who is understandably bitter and defiant. Foster, a college student, offers a natural and believable portrayal of a preteen, as does high-schooler Eden Myers as Jane's calmer, wiser friend Helen. Both have lovely voices to match their acting prowess.
In "Graveside," Foster's young Jane and the grown Jane portrayed by Kiera Lynn sing alternate lines, then the same words and melody in unison, then diverge, singing in harmony – a nice transition of actors out of and into the role, and of Jane from girl to woman. Lynn has a marvelously sweet yet straightforward singing voice here. I last saw her a few months ago as Ralphie's snarky teacher Miss Shields at the Circa '21's Dinner Playhouse's A Christmas Story: The Musical. Naturally, Lynn's Jane is quite a different creation. Gratifyingly, in the Black Box venue, I was close enough to see the changes in Lynn's face throughout the story: sorrow becoming determination; hope becoming heartbreak.
When Jane leaves boarding school to become a governess, she's welcomed to Thornfield Hall by housekeeper Mrs. Fairfax, played by the golden-voiced Karen LeFebvre. In LeFebvre's first of several numbers, "Perfectly Nice," she provides backstory, and plays the character's scripted slight confusion and hearing loss as gently amusing without making her a buffoon. Jane's charge Adele is played by Myers – distinct from her previous role as Helen, and now in a dark, corkscrewed wig and frilly dress. (Here, I must laud Adams, who has created yet another range of gorgeous costumes and a versatile set. Don't know how she keeps doing it, but I hope she never stops.)
Joe Urbaitis is a wonder as master of the mansion Mr. Rochester, a slightly gruff but appealing fellow with a melancholy soul and a mysterious past. Urbaitis, a veteran of many QC musicals, always impresses with his characterizations. For example, in a small yet critical detail, he nails this English dialect. (I expected no less.) In his Mr. Rochester, I saw hints of Urbaitis' charming Emile in Countryside Community Theatre's South Pacific, a character that had a similar character arc. Shelley Cooper plays Rochester's admirer Blanche, who hilariously blows the roof off the mansion with her operatic grandstanding. Half the Jane Eyre cast take on two roles apiece, and the ensemble as a whole are superb: Abby Berg, Daniel Williams, Douglas Kutzli, Heather Lueder, Jakob Berg, Kirsten V. Myers Sr., Stephanie Quade-Perry, and Tyler Henning. Meanwhile, this musical's "pit" – more accurately a pocket at stage right – holds two keyboardists and a flutist. The simple orchestration with unamplified voices is excellent, effective, and does not sound spare in the slightest.
There are so many well-executed aspects of this production, big and small: the perfect little laden tea table; the lower-class London accent of Heather Lueder's Grace; the artworks visible during "Painting Her Portrait”; the warmly flickering fireplace; the birdsong punctuating "In the Light of the Virgin Morning”; Abby Berg's frightening spectre with an angelic voice; the transformation of a parlor into a garden with a flip of blossoming vines over a wall; everything about Urbaitis' "As Good as You." With an astonishing 39 musical numbers and many shifts in scene, Adams' troupe makes this complex, ambitious undertaking run smoothly. There were a few technical glitches when I attended, but I trust they've been subsequently worked out.
When I saw Jane Eyre's opening-night performance, I didn't know what shape or tone this production might possess. Beyond that, I was decidedly under the weather on Friday, and on glancing at the program's long song list, I wondered how on Earth I was going to last through the show. However, I found myself absorbed, time flew, and at the end, I was sweetly uplifted with no saccharine aftertaste. I also felt inspired to endure and persevere – and believed that what doesn't kill us really does make us stronger.
Jane Eyre runs at the Black Box Theatre (1623 Fifth Avenue, Moline IL) through March 29, and more information and tickets are available by calling (563)284-2350 and visiting TheBlackBoxTheatre.com.
