The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (CVNC)Raleigh Little Theatre Review “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” is far from prime The eccentric, egotistical title character of the far-from-prime Raleigh Little Theatre presentation of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, adapted for the stage in 1966 by Jay Presson Allen (TRU) from the short and somewhat autobiographical 1961 novel by Muriel Spark, is truly unforgettable. She is an unconventional teacher at a straitlaced school for girls, circa 1931 to 1936, where she ignores the subjects that comprise the traditional curriculum and instead regales her impressionable adolescent students with her philosophy of Truth and Beauty and spicy tales of her romantic interludes in faraway places. A never-married middle-aged woman in her self-proclaimed sexual prime, Jean Brodie prides herself in putting “old heads on young shoulders,” but she plays favorites with her prize pupils -- an elite who are called “the Brodie Set” in a Presbyterian Edinburgh, Scotland, where the notion of the elect is a key religious tenet -- and she conducts not-so-secret love affairs with Mr. Lloyd the married art teacher and Mr. Lowther the unmarried music teacher. But it is her infatuation with Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and his fascist Black Shirts that proves her undoing, as she also expresses admiration for El Duce's despotic European counterparts, German Führer Adolf Hitler and Spanish Generalissimo Francisco Franco. Jean Brodie is a plum part -- on Broadway Zoe Caldwell won the 1968 Tony Award® for Best Actress in a Play and on film Maggie Smith won the 1970 Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- but RLT veteran Sandi Sullivan can emulate Miss Brodie's theatrical manner, but she can never quite muster the panache to be completely convincing in this flamboyant role. To read the rest of this Classical Voice of North Carolina review, please go to http://www.cvnc.org/ on Friday.
SECOND OPINION: Feb. 18th Durham, NC INDEPENDENT WEEKLY review by Zack Smith: http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid:287863. Raleigh Little Theatre presents The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Thursday-Saturday, Feb. 19-21 and 26-28, at 8 p.m.; Sunday, Feb. 22 and March 1, at 3 p.m. in RLT's Cantey V. Sutton Theatre, 301 Pogue St., Raleigh, North Carolina 27607. $18 ($15 students and seniors 62+). 919/821-3111 or click here. RALEIGH LITTLE THEATRE: http://raleighlittletheatre.org/performances/08-09/prime.html. NOTE: All shows are wheelchair accessible, and assistive listening devices are available for all shows. INTERNET BROADWAY DATABASE: http://www.ibdb.com/show.php?ID=7242. INTERNET MOVIE DATABASE: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064840/ WHAT: The TRIANGLE THEATER REVIEW is a FREE weekly e-mail theatrical newsletter, featuring previews and reviews by Robert W. McDowell and reviews by Alan R. Hall and others. (For brief bios of our critics, see the CVNC biographies page.) Classical Voice of North Carolina, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and this state's leading performing-arts platform, not only pays our reviewers but also makes continued publication of TTR possible. The online versions of our critics' theater reviews are now listed on the CVNC Reviews page. CVNC also publishes a comprehensive list of Triangle Theatre Openings and an extensive list of Theater and Film Links. DONATIONS: If you value the comprehensive, in-depth local theater coverage that TTR and CVNC provide, please mail a check today to Classical Voice of North Carolina, 3305 Ruffin Street, Raleigh, NC 27607-4025; or use your credit card to donate online via PayPal. Because CVNC is a 501(c)(3) organization, all financial contributions are tax-deductible as allowed by law. Be sure to indicate that you want to support continued online publication of the TRIANGLE THEATER REVIEW. You may also donate to CVNC through the Triangle Community Foundation, based in Research Triangle Park. You can find current information about CVNC at Philanthropy Central, an online service operated by the Triangle Community Foundation. HOW TO SUBSCRIBE: E-mail RobertM748@aol.com and type SUBSCRIBE TTR in the Subject: line. TO UNSUBSCRIBE: E-mail RobertM748@aol.com and type UNSUBSCRIBE TTR in the Subject: line. QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS? E-mail RobertM748@aol.com. COPYRIGHT: Editorial content and all formats © 2012 CVNC and the respective authors. Reproduction in any form without authorization of Classical Voice of North Carolina and the respective authors is prohibited. CVNC will maintain an archive of standard previews and reviews from past issues for at least a year. To request copies of web articles from 2005 and earlier, e-mail cvnc1@earthlink.net. You are here: Home > Reviews and articles about the theatre's productions > The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (CVNC) |