{"id":2192944,"date":"2025-12-09T23:52:20","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T23:52:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2192944"},"modified":"2025-12-09T23:52:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T23:52:20","slug":"review-theatreworks-georgiana-and-kitty-christmas-at-pemberley-a-perfect-holiday-entertainment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/review-theatreworks-georgiana-and-kitty-christmas-at-pemberley-a-perfect-holiday-entertainment\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: TheatreWorks\u2019 \u2018Georgiana and Kitty: Christmas at Pemberley\u2019 a perfect holiday entertainment \u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>TheatreWorks Silicon Valley\u2019s production of Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon\u2019s \u201cGeorgiana and Kitty: Christmas at Pemberley\u201d begins with the delightfully old-fashioned trope of read-aloud correspondence. Shy, musically gifted Georgiana Darcy is exchanging excited letters with her best friend, Kitty Bennet. The two will soon be together to celebrate a Darcy\/Bennet Christmas at Pemberley Estate.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>For those who don\u2019t remember all the characters from Jane Austen\u2019s ever-popular \u201cPride and Prejudice,\u201d it doesn\u2019t matter: With the exchange of letters followed by a torrent of excitable young women swarming in, all in Regency-era finery, who\u2019s who soon becomes clear.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside>\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<aside>\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<\/p>\n<p>As it happens, Gunderson and Melcon have completed a trilogy of \u201cChristmas at Pemberley\u201d plays, each one a sequel of sorts that focuses on various woman in the extended Bennet family; this one focuses on two: Georgiana (an endearing Emily Ota), whose life is micro-managed by her brother and guardian, the overbearing Mr. Darcy (Jordan Lane Shappell), who is, of course, married to Elizabeth Bennet (Amanda Pulcini). A secondary focus is on impulsive, plain-spoken Kitty (Kushi Beauchamp), who complains to the gentle, long-suffering Georgiana, \u201cHow can you stand to be so <em>kind?<\/em>\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s great fun to watch the interactions among Georgiana and the carefully differentiated sisters, under TheatreWorks artistic director Giovanna Sardelli\u2019s sharp, sympathetic direction: not just Elizabeth, so deft at manipulating her churlish husband, but also bookish Mary (Maria Marquis); hopelessly self-centered Lydia (a particularly funny Jenny Nguyen Nelson); and Jane (Monique Hafen Adams).\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But it\u2019s especially gratifying to watch, over the course of two acts (spanning six years), as nervous-Nelly Georgiana (\u201cI don\u2019t trust myself to know what I feel,\u201d she confesses early on) comes into her own: single (at least temporarily), outspoken, independent (well, for that era), even a leader in the field of women\u2019s rights, her natural gifts finally recognized by all. That Gunderson and Melcon could so convincingly trace Georgiana\u2019s growth as a woman and a musician is satisfying indeed.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">L-R, Amanda Pulcini, Jenny Nguyen Nelson, Kushi Beauchamp, Emily Ota, Maria Marquis and Monique Hafen Adams play the women who gather for the holidays in TheatreWorks Silicon Valley\u2019s \u201cGeorgiana and Kitty: Christmas at Pemberley.\u201d (Kevin Berne\/TheatreWorks Silicon Valley via Bay City News)\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n<p>Secrets abound, and so does romance, for both Georgiana and her supportive BFF Kitty. And Georgiana\u2019s suitor and fellow music-lover, Henry (a charmingly bashful Nima Rakhshanifar), and his more outgoing buddy, Thomas (a funny, forthright William Thomas Hodgson), get just the right amount of attention in this women\u2019s story.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>As usual, the TheatreWorks design team is terrific. The Pemberley drawing room (in Act 2,\u00a0it\u2019s deftly transformed into Georgiana\u2019s London drawing room), designed by Andrea Bechert in rich shades of green, simply dazzles, with its towering Christmas tree, elegant brocade furniture, sweeping draperies, chandelier, gorgeous fireplace screen and more.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>And longtime local costume designer Cathleen Edwards\u2019 period-perfect array of high-waisted gowns, boots, gloves and more are richly detailed.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s hard to imagine better feel-good theatrical holiday entertainment than this beautifully designed, directed and performed play.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>TheatreWorks Silicon Valley\u2019s \u201cGeorgiana and Kitty: Christmas at Pemberley\u201d continues through Dec. 28 at Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. Tickets are $34-$115 at <\/em><\/strong><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/my.theatreworks.org\/overview\/7334?_gl=1*1ft85vk*_gcl_au*Mzg5NjIzNDY4LjE3NjUzMDkwNzM.*_ga*MTY4ODU4MjY3Ni4xNzY1MzA5MDc0*_ga_KPN8QPFW7C*czE3NjUzMDkwNzQkbzEkZzEkdDE3NjUzMDkwNzUkajU5JGwwJGgw*_ga_74TQE0Z52Y*czE3NjUzMDkwNzYkbzEkZzAkdDE3NjUzMDkwNzYkajYwJGwwJGgw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong><em>theatreworks.org.<\/em><\/strong><\/a><strong><em\/><\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Story map\" style=\"display:block;border:none;visibility:visible;width:100% !important;height:300px;\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" data-src=\"https:\/\/embed.bloom.li\/article\/map?zoom=close&amp;post_key=7EkSx13sHuI09xr69AYn\"><\/iframe><noscript><iframe src=\"https:\/\/embed.bloom.li\/article\/map?zoom=close&amp;post_key=7EkSx13sHuI09xr69AYn\" title=\"Story map\" style=\"display:block;border:none;visibility:visible;width:100% !important;height:300px;\"><\/iframe><\/noscript><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source localnewsmatters.org \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>TheatreWorks Silicon Valley\u2019s production of Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon\u2019s \u201cGeorgiana and Kitty: Christmas at Pemberley\u201d begins with the delightfully old-fashioned trope of read-aloud correspondence. Shy, musically gifted Georgiana Darcy is exchanging excited letters with her best friend, Kitty Bennet. The two will soon be together to celebrate a Darcy\/Bennet Christmas at Pemberley Estate.\u00a0 For [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2192945,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[423341,423342,423343,423344,423345,423346,374762,423347,423348,423349,359288,423350,423351,423352,423353,423354,423355],"class_list":["post-2192944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-amanda-pulcini","tag-andrea-bechert","tag-cathleen-edwards","tag-emily-ota","tag-georgiana-and-kitty-christmas-at-pemberley","tag-giovanna-sardelli","tag-jane-austen","tag-jenny-nguyen-nelson","tag-jordan-lane-shappell","tag-kushi-beauchamp","tag-lauren-gunderson","tag-margot-melcon","tag-maria-marquis","tag-monique-hafen-adams","tag-nima-rakhshanifar","tag-theatreworks-silicon-valley","tag-william-thomas-hodgson"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Review-TheatreWorks-\u2018Georgiana-and-Kitty-Christmas-at-Pemberley-a-perfect.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2192944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2192944"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2192944\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2192946,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2192944\/revisions\/2192946"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2192945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2192944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2192944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2192944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}