'Philadelphia Story' stands up onstage

One good general rule for reviewers is never compare a stage production with the movie version. It’s not fair. The two art forms are worlds apart.

But sometimes, a rule must be set aside for good reason. Take Philip Barry’s “The Philadelphia Story,” for example, a play that starts out as a conventional, old-fashioned, drawing-room comedy, then takes a sharp turn toward pre-World War II social commentary.

The 1940 film, starring Katharine Hepburn, Jimmy Stewart and Cary Grant, remains so vividly recalled and so ardently revered that staging the play poses a tough choice: Should a theater company try to ape the film, and likely fail? Or take a different tack and risk alienating the faithful?

John Craven, directing the current production of “The Philadelphia Story” at Petaluma’s Cinnabar Theater, came up with own approach, which proves both daring and fascinating.

The physical elements of the production, including high-fashion costumes by Joy Dean and an incredibly detailed set by David R. Wright, remain true to the play’s original era. Dialect coach Rebecca Castelli even helped the actors master upper-crust accents.

But the acting style used by Craven’s impressive cast could be employed in a serious contemporary drama. They pause, think and react as real people, not stock stage caricatures.

As portrayed here, these characters populate a play that is frequently very funny, but they take their own problems just as seriously as any protagonist penned by Tennessee Williams or Harold Pinter.

As Tracy Lord, a rich heiress considered impossibly high and mighty even by those who love her, Laura Lowry doesn’t try to be Hepburn but does exude strength and spirit that might even impress Kate herself. On the eve of her second wedding, with nosy journalists roaming the house, Tracy dithers momentarily and then decides to fight back.

As C.K. Dexter Haven, Tracy’s iniquitous ex-husband, Peter Downey maintains a smooth presence more understated and detached than Grant’s famously clipped and impetuous portrayal. Downey’s Dexter subtly orchestrates events from the sidelines.

With nary a stutter and never a shy downward shift of his gaze, Paul Huberty makes reporter McCauley “Mike” Connor (Stewart’s character in the movie) a tough but earnest fellow who despises the rich but thaws easily.

In short, these actors have been encouraged to play these roles their own way, and it really works.

The supporting cast is uniformly superb — Barton Smith as Tracy’s affable brother, Emmy Cozine as her pesky and precocious sister, Laura Jorgenson as her ditzy mother, Charlie Queary as her cold father, Chris Murphy as her lecherous uncle, Jon Burnett as her stuffed-shirt fiance and Danielle Cain as Mike’s philosophical photographer and girlfriend. (Jessica Powell will play Tracy’s mother starting Sept. 26.)

It takes awhile to get comfortable with the director’s slightly experimental take on a comedy nearly seven decades old, but soon the audience can see this style serves the play well.

After all, for its time, “The Philadelphia Story” took on some provocative topics, from class hatred to extramarital sex, and it played fast and loose with the comedic formulae of the time, too. You’ve got to love a script in which the characters attempt a hackneyed hoax — with the uncle posing as the father and vice versa — but then shrug and basically say, “Oh, forget that!”

Credit this company with a gutsy approach to an old warhorse of a show. Ultimately, is this hybrid production a bird that swims, or a fish that flies? Pacing the action perfectly, Craven and company never give you time to decide.

As you cross the theater parking lot to your car, you might still be trying to figure out whether you liked this version of an old favorite. But by the time you get home, you might want to make plans to see it again.

You can reach Staff Writer Dan Taylor at 521-5243 or dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com.