Belated Philadelphia Story Review

This review was written by Judith M. Steiner and was supplied by kind permission of Theatreworld Internet Magazine.
I must warn readers that some of it isn't exactly complimentary towards Ms Ehle.

...Jennifer Ehle who plays the Hepburn role of Tracy Lord is a very pretty, buxom English actress, but she isn’t whippet thin; she has the soft round face of a country girl, and she doesn’t look in any way like old Philadelphia money. Zaks has her speak her lines out to the audience in a flat, dated performance that has little to do with the other actors on the stage.

Adding insult to injury, Costume Designer Tom Rands has dressed her in a series of the most unflattering frou-frou frocks that no self-respecting between the wars debutant would have been caught dead in.

Strangely, Julia McKenzie as the heiress’ mother also exhibits a complete lack of sartorial elegance where Lauren Ward as Liz Imbrie, a gossip magazine photographer whose impoverished state is referred to in the play, is considerably more expensively and beautifully dressed than either of them. What is a girl to do when the director and the designer are working against you?...

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