Curtain rises on Sonoma Arts Live’s ‘Enchanted April’

With images fresh in people’s minds from the Jan. 18 Women’s March, perhaps there is no better time for a play that explores four women pushing the boundaries of society. Opening Jan. 24, Sonoma Arts Live presents Matthew Barber’s “Enchanted April” in Andrews Hall at the Sonoma Community Center. The show will have 11 performances starting at 8 p.m.

Based off the 1922 novel by Elizabeth von Arnim, “Enchanted April” is the story of a woman, Lottie Wilton, who sees an advertisement in the paper to rent a castle in Italy for the month of April. Wilton gathers three other housewives who are feeling similarly dissatisfied with their lives, husbands and the dreariness of post-war England to get away for a month of bonding and rejuvenation.

Unexpected guests and transformation await the women in this comedy Barber adapted for the stage in 2003.

“The play has a feminist bent to it,” said “Enchanted April” director Larry Williams. “It’s about women who are unhappy with their lives at that time and decide to do something by getting away from it.”

Williams said that the time in Italy is a time of discovery for the ladies, both in discovering themselves and love for their husbands which they had previously thought lost.

Barber’s adaptation debuted on Broadway in 2003 and received numerous accolades including the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New American Play, a Drama League nomination for Distinguished Production of a Play, and two Tony Award nominations – one for Best Play and one for Best Leading Actress, in recognition of Jayne Atkinson’s performance. The play also notably featured actress Molly Ringwald as one of the four women in the plot.

The play was previously adapted into a 1935 film starring Anne Harding and adapted again for the screen in 1991, for which it received two Golden Globe awards (one for Best Actress Miranda Richardson and another for Best Supporting Actress Joan Plowright), a Golden Globe nomination for Best Musical or Comedy, and three Academy Award nominations for Adapted Screenplay, Supporting Actress (Joan Plowright) and Costume Design.

Director Williams has been acting and directing for Sonoma Arts Live for several years; he directed two productions prior to “Enchanted April” – “Merman’s Apprentice” and “A Christmas Story: The Musical.”

“I’m delighted to be back at SAL, directing ‘Enchanted April,’” Williams said. “We have such a talented cast and a delightful story… a great way to start to the new year.”

For this production, Williams is sticking to the original script for the most part though he has added some changes to the set and other scene work.

“I’ve done a couple little things but I’m pretty much sticking to the script; there’s no reason to contemporize it,” Williams said.

Playing the character of Lottie, a woman who has only been wed a few years but is already troubled by her marriage, is Katie Kelley from Petaluma where she is the director of the Young Actors Studio. Lyndsey Sivalingam will play Rose, a religious woman often neglected by her author husband. Sheila Lichirie plays the demanding Mrs. Graves; Laura Davies is Costanza, the maid. Julianne Bradbury plays Lady Caroline, a young, beautiful socialite, and Giovanni Amador plays Wilding, the Italian villa landlord. Jason Soares will play Frederick, Rose’s husband and Matt Witthaus is Mellersh, Lottie’s husband. All actors are from Sonoma County.

“This delightful and romantic comedy is just the thing for the post-holiday blues” said Jaime Love, artistic director for Sonoma Arts Live. “It was a well-loved movie back in the 1990s, and we look forward to seeing what Larry Williams creates with this lovely period piece about women pushing the boundaries of society.”