Review: THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST at Alley Theatre

It’s hard not to be intimately familiar with Oscar Wilde’s THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST, because it is the author’s most produced play, and it even saw a solid production in Houston earlier this year from the Bellaire troop, Company Onstage. But the deal with this Alley Theatre production is that it is fiercely delicious by design, and the show's scale is mind-blowing. The acting is incredible, but set designer Michael Locher, costumer Alejo Vietti, and lighting designer Jiyoun Chang take all of this to the next level of beauty for beauty’s sake. You have never seen a world this sumptuous or saturated. I have nothing to declare about the technical aspects of this show except that they are genius. Director Rob Melrose certainly knows how to pick actors and designers who know their craft and live it, while the rest merely exist. 

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde is a farcical comedy concerning manners in which a pair of flamboyant, wealthy men, Jack and Algernon, invent false identities to escape social obligations and pursue romance in English society of the 1890s. Their deceptions lead to a series of misunderstandings, especially when both women they love insist on marrying someone named “Earnest.” Wilde constructed this show to be a “straight play” that was coded so that queer audience members would get more of the jokes than the common man or woman. Understand that the name “Earnest” sounds awfully close to what the English called gay men back then, Uranists. And all the pokes and digs at marriage are intentionally aimed at those who would remain perennial bachelors for their lives. But never fear, the script is both witty and Wilde, and you will giggle.  

The cast takes an interesting approach. Dylan Godwin makes his Algernon a complete fop, and there is no doubt his loafers are light. He minces, he prances, and he mines the character for prissy comedy that is elegant and obvious. It’s brilliant and feels as if Oscar invades his own play. Meanwhile, Christopher Salazar plays it “straight” and doesn’t go over the top, but Alejo Vietti’s costumes still signal to the audience that Jack is certainly “left of center.” Salazar brings himself to the role, and it works well. Amelia Pedlow chews the delicious scenery as Gwendolyn, and she is a hoot and a half. Melissa Molano is sweet and innocent as Cecily, but her beauty hides a dark streak that the actress revels in. Elizabeth Bunch and Chris Hutchinson are resident company members who are married in real life, and both decide to lean into their shared talent of physical comedy perfection to flesh out the butler and the tutor. Hutchinson, especially, had the audience roaring with laughter without uttering a single line. Spencer Plachy does double duty as butler and Catholic canon, and he charms in both turns. 

But what of our Lady Bracknell, often considered the fulcrum of this comedy? The Alley has opted for a real woman to assume the role of arbiter of taste and decorum: actress Candy Buckley. Again, Alejo Vietti goes wild with her clothing, so that Bracknell’s hats often enter the stage before she does. Candy is so clever that sometimes she gives the impression she doesn’t even understand a single word she is saying. She mispronounces, growls, and then zooms up in register with comic inspiration. She’s rarely pure and never simple, and she gets every moment! 

As I have alluded to previously, the technical side of the house treats all of this as anything but ordinary. They shoot for the moon and land on it. The set from Michael Locher miraculously moves from city to country, and indoor to outdoor in sequences that elicited applause from the folks who stay seated during intermissions. His command of a color palette to influence everything else is masterful. Alejo Vietti’s costumes are spectacular and works of art. He’s not recreating the period; he is reinventing it, and using all of the flourishes that would make Oscar Wilde squeal in delight. These clothes are engineered to say as much as the actors, and they deliver lines without speaking brilliantly. Jiyoun Chang incorporates the idea of period fantasy into his lights, using unexpected hues and even a neon palette that brings BRIDGERTON to EARNEST. You have never seen this before, but you will want to live in this world. I envied the actors who got to play in this space. 

The Alley Theatre has given Houston an uncommon production of a very commonly produced play and returned it to its grand, glorious roots of beauty for the sake of nothing other than more beauty. The actors are witty, and also lean into physical comedy with gusto. These are not entirely serious people, and they wink right at you with regularity. But they do go for broke with this comedy classic, finding new angles, new colors, and new opportunities to elevate and freshen it. Rob Melrose and Michael Locher prove a formidable team to take on the classics like THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST. It is direction and design, with something that makes their art seem anything but useless. It is vital and… well, Earnest.