All’s well that ends well at Highbury Prep. In between the start and finish is where it can get complicated.
Reimagined for theater audiences in 2017, the Jane Austen novel turned Park High Theater drama follows debuted at Park High recently, with shows running over two weekends from April 25 to May 4.
As for the plot, Emma! A Pop Musical follows Emma Woodhouse (Sasha McCauley), a student at Highbury Prep School, as she goes about trying to match her friend Harriet and others, in order to hide her own uncertainty about what to do with her life.
Contrasting the “objective chemistry” of organic science with the subjective chemistry of human relationships, Emma! A Pop Musical explores the dynamics of both class and money as they intersect with lived experience, interweaving several hit pop songs along the way.
The show starts when Highbury Prep teachers Mr. Weston (Nathan Kinney) and Miss Taylor (Helen Born) make their way to the altar to be married by Miss Bates (Alexis Wolkerstorfer), after Emma decided that they would make a good match.
The wedding ceremony concluded, the two teachers decide to take a honeymoon, at which point the now Mrs. Weston throws a bouquet to Emma’s friend Harriet (Anna Blasy), who catches it.
Harriet and Emma reflect on what this means, Shania Twain’s “Man, I Feel Like a Woman” providing musical accompaniment. Harriet expresses interest in busboy Martin, a cafeteria worker at Highbury Prep and member of a bowling group called “I can’t believe it’s not gutter.”
Emma disapproves of Martin and thinks Harriet should get together instead with Philip Eaton (Kellen Ott), a student running to be class president. Doing so could put Harriet on an eventual path to the White House, Emma says. Among Philip’s many campaign promises?
Protecting Crazy Hair day.
“I pledge to you that if I get your vote, Crazy Hair Day will be safe and sound on Friday, where it belongs,” Philip says in his opening stump speech from the balcony. Making big promises and feigning interest in order to gain votes, Philip appears warm when Emma introduces him to Harriet. Emma’s matchmaking plans later collapse as Philip admits to her he was “in the middle of a political campaign” and prone to show interest in any and everyone. He denies liking Harriet and instead says he and Emma could be a power couple, but Emma rejects this.
Emma’s friend and fellow student Jeff Knightley (Lex Hidlebaugh), appointed as a chemistry tutor in Mr. Weston’s absence, saw the whole disaster coming.
“Philip doesn’t like Harriet,” he tells Emma after Emma introduces the two. “He just wants to be student council president.”
Telling Emma that the impending disaster will be her fault, Jeff counsels her to make it right, which ends in tears for Harriet, averting a greater disaster. But while Harriet is crying a new student arrives: Jane Fairfax (Kana Thao), heir to a nationwide vending machine fortune.
Treated with deference by students and staff on account of her family’s money, Jane seeks true friendship. Fresh off disaster at matchmaking, Emma gets caught up with the arrival of Frankie Churchill (Kenji Yang), a pop star and former student who she doesn’t think remembers her.
“You sure about that?” Frankie asks as he makes a grand entrance to whisk Emma up on the balcony as the drama takes an intermission.
Coming back from show intermission with the girls singing “What a Man” by Salt-N-Pepa, Frankie is revealed to be a bit like Philip, later revealing that his publicist has encouraged him to “flirt with everyone.” He doesn’t like Emma romantically, but is instead the secret boyfriend of Jane Fairfax. After a disaster with a vending machines jeopardizes Jane’s tuition Emma comes up with the idea of a scholarship fundraiser headlined by Frankie, which proves unnecessary after Frankie secretly pays her tuition. He also considers putting his music career on hold and making a return to Highbury Prep, as a sophomore.
But while Jane doesn’t need a scholarship anymore others do, with student Ashley (Emily Cole) deciding to headline the event instead.
Still running for student council president, Philip opposes the scholarship fundraiser but also shows himself amenable to public opinion, joining in the a rendition of Katy Perry’s “Roar” by Ashley and Emma.
Faced with a vote of 3 (Emma, Jeff, and Ashley) to 1 (Philip) in favor of said scholarship fundraiser, the would be student council president finds himself mirroring student opinion to keep his station.
Closing the drama out at the scholarship banquet, the play’s end sees the return of Mr. and Mrs. Weston, as well as the matching of Martin and Harriet. Jeff stands behind the scenes as quiet encourager for Martin in Martin’s pursuit of Harriet.
And while Emma finally comes to terms in the end with her admittedly poor matchmaking skills, she isn’t left out. Cautious towards each other at first, she and Jeff nonetheless come to admit they like each other, leading to a happy ending for all involved.
The scholarship fundraiser over, Highbury Prep finally stands to become a place that welcomes all—but that doesn’t mean there aren’t titles involved.
“Mr. Knightley?” Emma says of what to call classmate Jeff earlier in the show after he’s appointed as a student chemistry tutor for Mr. Weston’s class. “That sounds like a Jane Austen novel.”
Maybe because it’s from one.