Youth-filled British melodrama finds life at Trilogy

Tom Titus

“Class,” as defined by the British of a century or so ago,

dictated one’s station in life and it pretty much boiled down to the

haves and the have-nots. The haves made the rules, and the have-nots

were left with what Marilyn Monroe in “Some Like It Hot” described as

the fuzzy end of the lollipop.

This situation was subject to change, as it does in Frances

Hodgson Burnett’s novel “A Little Princess,” now being dramatized at

Costa Mesa’s Trilogy Playhouse by a mixture of experienced adult

actors and charming youngsters. At least most of them are charming; a

couple have drawn the more meaty, bratty assignments.

“A Little Princess” is, on the face of it, a gloomy melodrama

centering on a privileged little girl’s fall from grace when her

diamond miner father dies, transforming her from a waited-upon young

student at an exclusive girls’ school to the equivalent of a scullery

maid at the same establishment. What raises it above the cliches of

its script are some richly defined performances by both adults and

children.

The central character of Sara Crewe, whose fortunes slip from

riches to rags, is beautifully enacted by young Andrea Adnoff (who

shares the role with Alexa Wildish). Adnoff is steadfast in her

refusal to give in to embitterment when the bottom falls out of her

life, and her bright, sparkly attitude proves quite contagious.

If you combined the Wicked Witch of the West from “The Wizard of

Oz” with Miss Hannigan from “Annie,” and drained the part of all

semblance of humor, you’d have Miss Minchin, the stern proprietress

of the young ladies’ academy. Leslie Williams reaches beyond

stereotype to create a truly hateful character, skillfully

interpreted, her face frozen in a perpetual scowl.

Of the handful of friends Sara makes at the school, Hailey

Villaire as the eager-to-please Cockney maid makes the deepest

impression. Mary Hering is quite effective as the perpetually hungry

Ermengarde, and Allison Aoun kicks up a temperamental storm as the

brattish Lottie (double-cast with Alanna Hanly). On the enemies list,

Kriston Aoun excels as the haughty, self-centered Lavinia.

Sharon Simonian muddles about as Williams’ cipher of a sister at

the school, parroting the ends of her sibling’s sentences. James

Mulligan is fine in a dual role of a French teacher and Sara’s

eventual benefactor, the solicitor of an elderly gentleman (Bob

Goodwin) who ultimately reverses Sara’s fortunes. Mulligan, as usual,

also designed the spare settings of low-key definition.

Director Alicia Butler has taken what might be a crashing bore in

less-accomplished hands and rendered it charming and appealing, given

its melodramatic nature. And as the running time is a scant 75

minutes, without intermission, there’s little chance of nodding off,

even in the early, talky segments.

This is the second time the Trilogy has produced one of Burnett’s

stories -- the first being the more elaborately ambitious “The Secret

Garden.” Both involve plucky young girls placed in stressful

situations and “coming through,” as it were. This production of “A

Little Princess” also comes through on sheer pluck.

* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Daily Pilot. His

reviews appear Thursdays and Saturdays.