Lucy Komisar
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“Are the Bennet Girls OK?” is more than OK. Not your Cliff Notes Jane Austin. Oct 5, 2025- Dec 21, 2025 What happens when you mix the characters of a late 18th century novel by Jane Austin with the sensibility of modern teenage girls who spend their time on dating apps and 20-something boys who seem stuck in a past century or are confused about the current one? Inspired by “Pride and Prejudice,” Emily Breeze’s play with music plays a bit loose with the text but is a happy romp that could have been set in a sorority house as much as at a modest estate in the English countryside. This is a terrific, funny, witty, wild and rambunctious play. Breeze and director Eric Tucker have finely drawn the characters of this dystopian family of neurotics who laugh and giggle a lot. It’s a satire, a spoof. Or a sitcom. This is not your Cliff Notes “Pride and Prejudice.” Austin wrote it when she when she was 21 in 1797 but it wasn’t published till 1813.
It opens with the line that, “It is a universally acknowledged truth that a bachelor in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.” It could as much have started by describing the desperation of Mrs. Bennet (the stern, rigid Zuzanna Szadkowski), the mother of five girls, who on the death of her sickly husband will lose their home to a relative, Mr. Collins, who is next in line of male heirs. Unless one of the girls marries and births a boy.
Daughter Elizabeth/Lizzie (the superb Elyse Steingold) is smart and clever and the main protagonist of the story. Lydia (Caroline Grogan), the youngest, says she knows all about men, though it turns out she is desperately naïve. Jane (Shayvawn Webster) and Catherine/Kitty (Violeta Picayo) are steadier if also insecure. Mary (Masha Breeze) is the funny flakey nervous sister who plays the piano and speaks through songs. One advises “you’ll be better with someone who’s not creepy.” Mary is very tall person with a deep voice and a bit of a nasal lisp. As cast lists were not given out till after the play, I wondered if the actor was male or female. Easy confusion: transgender! (Talented in any gender.) Playwright Emily is Masha’s older sister. They share the credit for music and lyrics. The beaux are all played by the terrific Edoardo Benzoni, including the unassuming Mr. Bigley, the nasty Mr. Wickham and the diffident, shy Mr. Darcey. The excellent Benzoni changes expressions, body movement and sometimes a coat to transform his identity. When Wickham tells Jane he’s “grieving” a break-up, it sounds like a take-down of pop psychology
Mother wants Lizzie to marry Collins. He is obnoxious, talks about setting up a garbage barge. Lizzie tells him I am infertile, he responds I am a healer. He is referred to as “our future slumlord when dad dies.” Nothing is said about the unfairness of that sexist male inheritance rule. Mrs. Bennet is so desperate that she is often a pest, sucking up to the men, telling them with obvious intent, “my husband would like to meet you.” The girls try to get her away, Lizzie says, “We wish you wouldn’t” and Kitty: “I don’t think she can help it.” They are giggly, loud, carry on a lot. PHOTO lk25113d Zuzanna Szadkowski as Mrs. Bennet. Photo by Ari Espay.
Well, so does Mrs. Bennet when she swigs from a wine bottle and jumps onto the dining table. At this point I must admit that I didn’t know how much of the story reflects the novel. I read it in high school, too many years ago. My theater guest was novelist Alix Kates Shulman who does know the book, and I kept asking “Is this is the book?” Mostly, she said yes. Though In book, she said, there is not so much about the relationship of the girls to each other. And the mother is sillier. Plus, the downfall of Lydia who runs away with Wickham is not dealt with in the play. And the apparent dénouement of that nasty suitor appears invented, taking the place of the Lydia story. Fast forward, the very rich Darcy tells Lizzie he loves her, “which is crazy, because you’re not my type.” I don’t think Jane Austin wrote that. (His estate would solve the housing problem.) PHOTO lk25113e Edoardo Benzoni as Darcy and Elyse Steingold as Lizzie. Photo by Ari Espay.
And then, sweet, soft-spoken Bingley, declares to Jane, “I want to be with you. I Just don’t want to marry you.” (Fear of relationships?) She replies, “When did I ask you to marry me? He says “it’s obvious with your mom.” This is not Austin: “My mom doesn’t give a shit about me. …. She legitimately doesn’t care if any of us are happy or safe or- she just wants a house and that’s- I have no interest in giving that to her so-“ Bingley: “That’s not why you were into me- “ Austin didn’t marry. She wrote and sold books. Lived with her family. Her major novels have a marriage plot with the family depending on it. The cast creates the girls and their beaux brilliantly. I first identified the women by the colors of their Empire high-waisted gowns, then knew them from their characters’ moods. This play might even get people to read the novel!
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