UMKC graduate students bring Charles Dickens' classic, Great Expectations to life - sort of. The play is good, but only a few of the actors rise to the level of great.
The play is set in England in the 1800s and tells the story of a young orphan boy named Pip (played by Nicholas Gehlfuss as an adult and Dina Kirschenbaum as a boy) who lives in the country with his overbearing, cantankerous sister Mrs. Joe (Amy Urbina), and her loving and sensible blacksmith husband Joe Gargery (Bennet Ferguson).
The rich, spinster hermit named Miss Havisham (Rachel Hirshorn) takes a fancy to Pip and invites him to her house to play with her adopted daughter Estella (Kat Endsley), and he immediately falls in love with her. As a younger woman, Havisham was left at the altar by a man she loved, and she has hated men ever since. She bitterly wants Estella to break Pip's heart like hers was broken.
Pip's life drastically changes when a lawyer named Jaggers (Zachary M. Andrews) tells him that an unnamed benefactor has given him money to get schooling and become well-bred in London. The rest of the play revolves around Pip trying to gain Estella's love and learn what his "great expectations" are.
Some of the actors are out-of-place in this university production simply because of their amazing professionalism.
Gehlfuss definitely fulfilled all expectations. He was amazing. Not for one second did I feel like he was "acting." He played the transition of a little boy into a man flawlessly. His emotions were real and raw. It's definitely a risk for a director to cast a role that can make or break a show, and a heavy weight for the actor to have such a burden, but Gehlfuss was absolutely perfect for the role and the highlight of the show.
Team Pip was definitely representing, with Kirschenbaum being an integral part of the show. She was completely believable as a small boy. You can tell when an actor is playing to the audience, when they do something and they think in their head, "they're going to love this." But that can totally ruin a character because it seems so dishonest and unfair to the character. She and others had none of this pretension, and their honesty was quite refreshing.
Another excellent actor was Andrews. He was intimidating, coarse and abrupt - perfect for the part of Jaggers. He managed to comically perfect his character's oddly sweaty palms. He would take a handkerchief out of his pocket and wipe them peripherally throughout the show. It was a great touch.
One thing I loved was the relationship between young and adult Pip. Throughout the entire play, small Pip was present to witness his life as a teenager and adult. Presumably he was there to show that you can never leave your past, even if you try to. You have to come to terms and accept it. The interaction between the duo was touching. When young Pip's life became too hard to handle, adult Pip would step in and become the character. There was a real tenderness between the two.
The set is one of the most interactive I've ever seen. Actors were constantly climbing on top of it and popping out from little nooks and crannies. They definitely made great use of the small space they were in.
The show is good. If anything, I would come to see wonderful performances from those highly talented actors who definitely do make the expectations "great."
tsheffield@unews.com
