BTE’s charming ‘Georgiana and Kitty: Christmas at Pemberley’ celebrates friendship, artistic expression
“Georgiana and Kitty: Christmas at Pemberley” — 3 stars
In “Pride and Prejudice,” Jane Austen assigns supporting roles to Georgiana Darcy, Fitzwilliam Darcy’s sheltered younger sister, and Kitty Bennet, second youngest of the five Bennet sisters.
Playwrights Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon place the young women center stage in “Georgiana and Kitty: Christmas at Pemberley,” running through Dec. 21 in a charming revival at Buffalo Theatre Ensemble.
A romantic comedy set during the 19th century, but animated by 21st-century feminism, “Georgiana and Kitty” examines women’s pursuit of art, purpose and love at a time when society limited those efforts. (One might argue society still does, but that’s a topic for another review).
A play about ambition, independence, loyalty and sisterhood — both biological and spiritual — “Georgiana and Kitty” is the final installment in Gunderson and Melcon’s holiday-set trilogy imagining the lives of the Bennet and Darcy families post “Pride and Prejudice.”
The earlier plays, “Miss Bennet” and “The Wickhams” (which BTE staged in 2023 and 2024), commence two years after Lizzie Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy married and unfold concurrently at the Pemberley estate over Christmas 1815.
“Georgiana and Kitty’s” first act occurs immediately after the events of the first two plays, on Boxing Day, 1815. The second act takes place six years later on Christmas Eve in Georgiana’s London home.
Olivia Finkelstein plays the exceptionally talented but reserved pianist/composer Georgiana. Ksa Curry plays her best friend, the vivacious, exceptionally perceptive Kitty, who champions Georgiana’s artistic ambitions.
“Together there is nothing we cannot do,” insists budding feminist Kitty.
Georgiana tells Kitty about Henry Grey (Peter Alfano), a diffident fellow music lover she has been corresponding with for a year. Unbeknownst to her brother (Keenan Odenkirk) or Lizzie (Paige Klopfenstein, reprising her role from BTE’s previous “Christmas at Pemberley” productions), Georgiana has invited Henry to the estate.
He arrives with the garrulous Thomas O’Brien (Daniel Millhouse, BTE’s new associate artistic director) in tow and is introduced to Lizzie’s sisters: pregnant Jane (Charlotte Foster), newly engaged Mary (Elexis Selmon) and unhappily married Lydia (Leela Watts).
Georgiana and Henry are smitten. But the arrival of a letter (“there’s always a letter,” Darcy wryly observes) ends their budding romance practically before it starts after Darcy — determined to protect a sister he believes is vulnerable — orders Henry from his home.
Fast-forward six years. Georgiana is estranged from her brother and living in London, where she performs works by a popular but reclusive composer. Denied admission to male-dominated music societies, she and Kitty work to establish one that promotes female composers and musicians. Newly empowered, Georgiana emerges as an advocate for women artists, insisting “we demand nothing more than opportunity.”
Kitty shares the sentiment, observing the task ahead: “It may not be comfortable to change the world,” she says, “but the world will be better for it.”
Worthy goals, but their expression feels a bit preachy. Yet that’s a minor point in Connie Canady Howard’s sprightly, solidly acted and thoroughly enjoyable production, which unfolds on Jacqueline and Richard Penrod’s handsome, well-appointed set. Aly Greaves Amidei, Joseph Jefferson Award winner for her “Miss Bennet” costumes, also deserves mention for the lovely color-coded regency gowns (blue for the faithful Lizzie, green for jealous Lydia, pink for the maternal Jane).
Finkelstein and Curry earn praise for their disarming, convincing performances, first as ingenuous girls and later as self-assured, autonomous women who defy convention to become more fully themselves.
Merry Christmas indeed.
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Location: Buffalo Theatre Ensemble at the McAninch Arts Center, College of DuPage, 425 Fawell Blvd., Glen Ellyn, (630) 942-4000, btechicago.com, atthemac.org
Showtimes: 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday through Dec. 21. Also, 3 p.m. Nov. 29. No show Nov. 27.
Tickets: $45
Running time: About 2 hours, 15 minutes, with intermission
Rating: For most audiences