The Heiress

Reviewed by Holly Bartges

The Heiress at the Arvada Center is a perfect example of a stellar cast, precise direction by Bev Newcomb-Madden, a beautiful set of a 1850s Drawing room designed by, Laura K. Love, and the play is dull as dish water. Predictable from the beginning, it defies curiosity, intrigue, or wonderment.

From Left, Beth Flynn (Mrs. Penniman) and Norah Long (Catherine) in the Arvada Center’s production of The Heiress. Photo: P. Switzer

I was unfamiliar with the story. With Olivia de Havillan, the movie garnered an Oscar. When the movie was transferred to the stage, it earned an Oscar. For the life of me, I don’t know why. The plot runs linear, only concerned with one element. Although the characters are well crafted by an artistic cast, there is very little we get to know about them.

With a cast of nine characters, their only concern is will Catherine Sloper (Norah Long) get married, or won’t she. We get to know very little about the characters.

Yes, Dr. Austin Sloper (William Denis) is most concerned about his plain Jane daughter, Yes, he is bitter, sad, and disappointed his wife died in childbirth. His wife, the epitome of perfection in his eyes shouldn’t have left him. The bitter-sad disappointment rolls around and through Denis with strong believability even though he stumbled over several lines.

Long knows how to dole out growth for Catherine from a shy, insecure, self-conscious wearing self-esteem around her ankles young girl, to a broken hearted blossoming young lady in love, to a strong, defiant determined woman of confidence. She does this quite well, but it isn’t enough to give the play an over-all push to the top. In the 1850s this may have been the crux of every young girl’s life, or even in 1949 when the movie hit the streets, but it comes across now as lame and superfluous.

Leslie O’Carroll carves out a wonderful demeanor for Sloper’s maid, Maria. Her wonderful child-like sense of loyalty and responsibility tickles the imagination to want to know more about her.

Beth Flynn thrusts everything she can into Sloper’s sister, Lavinia Penniman, and she brightens up the stage with her incessant chatter, but there isn’t enough of Lavinia to showcase Flynn’s quality talent.

Billie McBride gives Elizabeth Almond, Sloper’s and Lavinia’s sister, a stern proper force behind the family. One can easily imagine there is much playful disagreement between Elizabeth and Lavinia, and maybe some not so playful disagreement. The one so proper in her attire, her attitude, and the other a playful chatty Cathy. The play itself doesn’t provide any room to explore that element.

Elgin Kelly explodes onto stage with pure fun and delight as Elizabeth’s daughter Marian. She just doesn’t get to explode onto stage often enough to give life to the dreary.

laying the questionable love interest of Catherine, Wolf J. Sherrill takes on the role of Morris Townsend who invites himself to a family get together with his brother, Arthur, (Leigh Selting) who is richly connected to Marian. Arthur becomes merely a person on stage not allowing Selting to showcase much of anything.

Morris shows his hand too quickly. He likes doing what he wants to do when he wants to do it. He’s poor, broke, and has no clue what he wants to do now that he is back from his European fling. He smells money, and thinks he knows how to get it. Tell Catherine she’s pretty. Tell Catherine she is exactly what he needs and wants. Sweep her off her feet, and he won’t have to worry about what he’s going to do with his life. Catherine has money from her mother, and when her aging Father dies, she will have three times the amount.

It works for the moment. Catherine falls head over puppy love heels for the dashing charming man of the world. She wants and aches to believe him. Sloper sees through the scam, threatening to leave his money to his clinic if Catherine goes through with the wedding. Arguments do flair, giving some of the actors an opportunity to try their wings, but these juicy moments are few and far between.

In the second act, there is an explosive exchange of words between Catherine and Sloper showing what kind of mettle these actors are made of, but it’s too little too late.

There are four possible endings to the play. The first would be too obvious and the least interesting. The second would be possible but not probable, the third would be probable but not possible, and the fourth, the most pleasing from a woman’s point of view, far too predicable. When the ending of a play is determined only seconds after Act II begins, anything in between becomes filler.

It is difficult to understand with so many astonishing plays available, this one would be chosen. Yes, it won the Oscars, but that was in 1949, and it won a Tony, which means something is drastically missing from this production or the Oscars lost it.

Written by Ruth and Augustus Goetz as suggested by Washington Square, a novel written by Henry James Novel, the script has all of the possibilities of holding interest and intrigue. If Morris hadn’t tipped his intent so early in the play, if he’d held his cards closer to his chest, and his stupidity had been emphasized in other ways, and a couple of sub plots had been turned loose out their cages, and the characters were given more room to explore who they were, the purpose of the play might seem worthwhile.

For nine characters to surround their lives with only one concern, when and if the girl would or would not get married, is absurd to me.

The costumes of the 1850s are gorgeous, designed by Nicole M. Harrison-Hoof, although one of Catherine’s dresses raises a tantalizing question. The pink and black horizontal striped skirt with a top sporting V shaped wine and black stripes reminded me of something someone would wear on East Colfax Ave in the 1850s, if there had been an East Colfax then. One gnawing possibility is it symbolized the growing independence in this shy young girl who wore her self-esteem covered in petticoats. Perhaps it was the beginning of her defiance. If that is true, it worked. The dress screams defiance.

The Heiress is well-played, well-directed. The stage is well-dressed, and for the most part so are the actors for this 1850s scenario. What it desperately needs is content.