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Dani Marcus portrays Emma's new protÈgÈ Harriet Smith and Lianne Marie Dobbs portrays matchmaker Emma Woodhouse in the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park's production of Emma.Click to enlarge

THEATER REVIEW — If there's a musical theater equivalent to the infamous "chick flick," Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park's season opener is it.

"Emma," based on the novel by Jane Austen, is a light and breezy piece of fluff, beginning with the lush lavender and pink set decor and continuing through the stock characters and predictable story and ending. I have not read the novel, but I was joking around with my companion at dinner before the show, predicting what the story line would be based on the few sentences of a blurb on a poster at the Mt. Adams Bar and Grille, and I was about 75 percent correct.

That doesn't mean the show is an unpleasant experience. But seeing it is by no means an intellectually or emotionally challenging experience. The music is pleasant if not outstanding, the singers emotive and energetic (although they could have used some more dialect coaching), the script laced with a fair dose of satirical and sarcastic humor.

The title character, Emma Woodhouse, an early 19th century socialite, is part Dolly Levi (a matchmaker), part Henry Higgins (mentoring a country girl to become socially acceptable) and part Beatrice to the Benedict of George Knightly, the brother of her sister-in-law, with whom she has a flirtatious, faux-confrontational friendship.

As the play opens Emma is riding high on her latest success, having found a suitable husband for her childhood governess, and decides to take Harriet Smith, a country girl unschooled in the ways of good society, under her wing and find her a good husband. She sets Harriet's sights on the vicar Mr. Elton, but guess who Mr. Elton is really in love with. Emma's own romantic inclinations, however, veer toward the mysterious Frank Churchill, a Londoner whom she only knows by reputation, but presumes they would fall in love at first sight if they ever were to meet.

It gets pretty complicated from there with rivalries and romances growing and dying in rapid succession. Indeed, there is a lot of plot even for a three-hour run time.

The music seems to try to achieve a certain 19th century authenticity by being performed by a piano quartet, but stylistically falls squarely in the realm of modern musical theater, even with a few shades of Sondheim (but without the dark, dangerous edge).

how to go

WHAT: "Emma" by Paul Gordon, from the novel by Jane Austen

WHERE: Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park

WHEN: Through Oct. 3

COST: $31-$59

MORE INFO: (513) 421-3888; www.cincyplay.com