‘Pride and Prejudice’ brilliantly excels

For those who think it's impossible to adapt a great novel to the stage, I would offer as Exhibit A the Utah Shakespearean Festival's premiere of "Pride and Prejudice."

I was expecting this to be a nice, dutiful, boring literature lesson. But writers Joseph Hanreddy and J.R. Sullivan, along with director Blake Robison, have accomplished at least two amazing feats: They've remained faithful to the spirit of legendary author Jane Austen, and they've infused her story with their own dazzling zing.

The play strikes me as a lot funnier than the novel. Much of that may be due to the realistic lightness in which the creative artists approach their characters. This is a comedy of manners in which most of the time the people in it have no idea of how silly they're being. Money is what makes marriages in this early 19th-century British society, and it's amusing to see to what lengths the characters will go.

Most of the actors bring a pulse to these symbols of snobbishness. Ellen Crawford easily could have made Mrs. Bennet, the mother of a brood of daughters, a caricature. But her delight when learning someone in her family has snared a good match, as well as her despair when things go wrong, is so genuine that it's made understandable. We grow to like this loony woman because we can see the love in her, as well as the eccentricities.

Her husband (Jeff Steitzer) is a perfect foil. The actor skillfully plays him as all logic and no-nonsense (well, as logical as can be expected under the family circumstances). Yet, despite their opposing natures, we believe in these two people as a couple.

The heart of the tale is the growing relationship between the outspoken but kind Elizabeth (Kate Cook) and the seemingly cold but equally kind Fitzwilliam (Michael Brusasco).

Here, the production excels most brilliantly. Cook can play attractive and demure, but she lets you see the fire in her soul. Brusasco captures Fitzwilliam's torment as he falls in love against his will. The performer is equally adept at showing us how his character's coldness slowly thaws. He gives us the difficult transitions. The pair bring a simple, warm heart to this giant spectacle.

The show is great to look at, but the real test of its success is: Do we cheer when Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam finally get together? I did.