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A CurtainUp Review
You Never Can Tell
"The title of this play defines it all: life is full of danger — there are no guarantees other than the certainty that you never know what is waiting for you around the corner — but the only way to live your life is to get up and face each day with everything you've got. Thanks to Shaw, we have abundant reminders to carry our torch high."
— From director David Staller's program notes.
You Never Can Tell
Ben Charles as Philip Clandon and Emma Wisniewski as his twin sister Dolly, with (Sean McNall (rear left) and Zachary Spicer (rear right))
To take Director Staller's above quoted comment a step further, when it comes to a revival of an early and not very often done play, even if it's by a popular and highly regarded playwright like G.B. Shaw, you never can tell if it's going to come off as too dated. And, given Shaw's penchant for issues, even when in his Pleasant Play mode as he was when he wrote You Never Can Tell, you never can tell if it's going to come off as too talky for modern theater goers accustomed to 90-minute plays.

But with Mr. Staller at the helm there's no "you never can tell pondering about this co-production by his Gingold Theatrical Group and the Pearl Theater. He is, after all, the only person on record who directed all of Shaw's 65 plays. If anyone can make Shaw's early play sparkle, Staller's the man. And so he has done. This is a colorful production, rich in whimsy and musical movement that has some of the actors dancing (literally) even through the scene changes.

Shaw wrote You Never Can Tell in 1897 to capitalize on his success with Arms and the Man three years earlier. But even while committed to giving theater managers and audiences the light entertainment they wanted the playwright's social conscience remained active. While the play fit the then popular genre of seaside comedy, it did address issues of class and feminism. Though these have lost their shock value, the larger lesson to give in to our human instincts and enjoy life and love, no matter what might happen. Mr. Staller taps into that universal lesson to bypass any "too dated" concerns. Thus, the way the independent and unconventional Mrs. Margaret Clandon and her children deal with love relationships, social conventions is not only fun to watch but still manages to makes us laugh at and accept the inevitable missteps we all make.

The story that begins in a dentist's office with a tooth extraction chair (really!) and ends with a masquerade costume party contrasts love gone sour with love at first sight. The couple representing the former are Mrs. Clandon (Robin Leslie Brown) and Fergus Crampton (Bradford Cover) the husband she left 18-years ago to escape living within the confines of Victorian mores, especially as they pertained to a woman's marital rights. The love in bloom couple, at least eventually in bloom as this genre's happy ending dictates, is Mr. Valentine (Sean McNall, the dentist doing that opening scene's tooth extraction and Mrs. Clandon's older daughter Gloria (Amelia Pedlow).

I can't recall a more amusingly and effectively staged "our eyes locked and held" scene than the one between Valentine and Gloria. Problems of finance and differing opinions will be a stumbling block to delay the happy ending indicated by that magic moment. But this being a romantic comedy, Gloria and Valentine's future is inevitable.

To further thicken the plot Mrs. Clandon, who during her years in Portugal's Madeira Island has become a successful author of what we would today call life style how-to books. But she hasn't expected her family's holiday in an English seaside village hotel to encounter the husband she deserted. But true to the title, you never can tell what will happen when you go to the place where that abandoned spouse happens to live right in that seaside town and just happens to be Mr. Valentine's landlord.

Bear in mind that Shaw was not just writing any old fan pleasing comedy, but doing his own version of his friend Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest. So count on the free-spirited Mrs. Clandon to be this play's Lady Bracknell and a waiter's son to really be a powerful lawyer, and a waiter to serve cucumber sandwiches.

To further thicken the plot Mrs. Clandon, who during her years in Portugal's Madeira Island has become a successful author of what we would today call life style how-to books. But she hasn't expected her family's holiday in an English seaside village hotel to encounter the husband she deserted. But true to the title, you really never can tell what will happen when you go to the place where Fergus Crampton (Bradford Cover) that abandoned spouse happens to live right in that seaside town and just happens to be Mr. Valentine's landlord. While it's unlikely that this marriage that never should have been can change course, but Shaw taps into the growing influence of Freud in depicting Crampton's journey from uptight curmudgeon to a father getting in touch with his paternal feelings. Bear in mind that Shaw was not just writing any old fan pleasing comedy, but doing his own version of his friend Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest. So count on the free-spirited Mrs. Clandon to be this play's Lady Bracknell and a waiter's son to really be a powerful lawyer, and a waiter to serve cucumber sandwiches. As has been the case in recent years, the Pearl has populated its plays with its seasoned resident actors as well as newer, young newcomers. This mix works well here. Among the Pearl newcomers, Emma Wisniewski and Ben Charles especially delightful as the somewhat flighty and fun loving Clandon twins. For the classic role of the waiter or butler who was a de rigueur character in this genre you couldn't want anyone better and funnier than Pearl veteran Dan Daily as Walter Boon and Zachary Spicer in his debut with the companya, handles the waiter's class-jumping son with aplomb.

Sean McNall, who has done splendid work in the course of his ten years with the Pearl, merits another feather in his cap for the wit and charm he brings to the role of the impoverished but hopelessly smitten "5 shilling dentist."

In my years of reviewing Pearl Theatre productions, I've followed them from St. Marks Place, to City Center and now to their brightest and most welcoming home in Forty-Second Street's increasingly upscale "Far West." This happens to be a most welcoming space for their latest Shaw production. Harry Feiner has created one of his most attractive and versatile sets. Stephen Petrilli's lighting, M. L. Dogg's soundscape and Barbara A. Bells's costumes round things out. No wonder, the 21/2 hours (that includes an intermission) fly by!

For more about George Bernard Shaw's life and career, quotes and links to plays by him that we've reviewed, see Curtainup's Shaw Backgrounder .

You Never Can Tell by George Bernard Shaw
Directed by David Staller
Cast: Robin Leslie Brown (Mrs. Clandon), Bradford Cover (Fergus Crampton), Dominic Cuskern (Finch McComas), Dan Daily (Walter Boon), Sean McNall, Ben Charles (Philip Clandon), Amelia Pedlow (Gloria Clandon), Zachary Spicer (Walter Bohun), Emma Wisniewski (Dolly Clandon).
Sets: Harry Feiner
Costumes: Barbara Bell
Lighting: Stephen Petrilli
Sound: M.L. Dogg
Dramaturg: Kate Farrington
Stage Manager: April Ann Kline
Running Time: 2 1/2 hours with 1 intermission
Pearl Theatre 555 West 42nd Street Pearl Theatre pearltheatre.org; 212.563.9261
From 9/03/13; opening 9/15/13; closing 10/13
Tickets are $65 ($50 previews, $35 seniors, $20 student rush, $20 Thursday rush).
Reviewed by Elyse Sommer at 9/11 press preview
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