A Wilde and witty ride

When theatergoers praise a lavish set, it sometimes damns the rest of the production. "Too bad they wasted all their money on the scenery," is a refrain sometimes heard in lobbies at intermission.

The fact that Walt Spangler's scenic design for "The Importance of Being Earnest" is breathtaking -- especially the London flat where the first of the show's three acts takes place -- is not a knock against the solid performances in the Guthrie Theater's staging, which opened Thursday.

True, the actors in Joe Dowling's smart, handsome show are still in that careful-not-to-mess-up stage. But this pastel-colored production (lit by Allen Lee Hughes) is, in many ways, more cohesive than Dowling's riotous 1998 Guthrie take on Oscar Wilde's witty comedy about assumed identities, class distinctions and matters of the heart. The poet W.H. Auden called "Earnest" "a verbal opera," while Dowling calls it "sublime."

Both speak true, even if "Earnest" today seems like an escapist extravagance.

As the play opens, pleasure-seeking bachelor John (Jack) Worthing (Nick Mennell) has come to see fellow sybarite, Algernon Moncrieff (John Skelley). Jack wants to woo Algernon's cousin, Gwendolen (Heidi Armbruster). But Jack is of uncertain breeding, and he has a habit of assuming another identity. When Algernon, using an assumed name, visits Jack in the country, he instantly falls for Jack's ward, Cecily Cardew (Erin Krakow), which eventually causes the men's lies to collapse in a comic heap.

Dowling's earlier production had the director's hallmark style for comedies -- mix of close attention to language with some physical humor. In this staging, the Wildean wit is underscored with silent film-style mugging. Algernon and Jack were played then by RainnWilson (now of TV's "The Office") and Charles Janasz, then a little long in the tooth.

In this production, whose costumes are by Matthew Lefebvre, Skelley and Mennell evince a wonderful chemistry, with Skelley capturing Algernon's easygoing, well-bred brattiness while Mennell gives us Jack's hard-surfaced vulnerability. Still, their characters feel like foils for the women in the play. Krakow's Cecily is simply delightful while Armbruster's Gwendolen is a flutter of frippery.

Traditionally, the stern, zinging Lady Bracknell is the center of the play (and, rightly, takes the last bow). But while the character is delivered with ineffable severity by Linda Thorson, her performance is less memorable than that of Barbara Bryne, who last played Lady Bracknell at the Guthrie.

Kris Nelson is funny in two manservant cameos, as stiff, toy-soldier-like Lane, and bent-over, insouciant Merriman.

All in all, the performances will match the visual beauty of "Earnest" once the actors relax into their comedy suits.

Rohan Preston • 612-673-4390