Tonight, the Old Globe Theatre hosts the world premiere of "Regency Girls," a musical comedy about reproductive rights set in the time of Jane Austen.
Before Roe v. Wade was overturned, lyricist Amanda Green wanted to do a musical that tackled the issue of abortion. She brought in composer Curtis Moore, who suggested setting the story in the past. That's when they brought in Emmy-award winning writers Jennifer Crittenden and Gabrielle Allan.
"They came to us and said, "Bridesmaids" meets "Pride and Prejudice," go,'" Allan said. "Then the four of us came up with the story together. Looking at it through the lens of the past, I think just really makes it easier to talk about, to certainly infuse comedy into it, which is really what we wanted to do. The goal is, make it funny because we never want to be preachy. We really want to have a good rollicking time."
The story follows a group of women in the Regency Era (specifically 1811 to 1820, but often extended from 1795 and 1837 and named after the Regency Act 1811, which allowed Prince George to take over duties from his incapacitated father, King George III).
Crittenden explained, "They are four women. Our heroine is Elinor Benton, and she is a young woman, the oldest of three sisters, and she's at marrying age. She's a spinster at 22, basically. She needs to get married to help her family survive because they have no male heirs. Then our other character is Jane, her younger sister, who follows all the Regency rules perfectly and is the model daughter, perfect in every way. Then they have a friend named Petunia. She is a mother of eight or nine kids. She's just living the country life of being a mother and constantly being pregnant. And then they go on this adventure with Jane and Elinor's maid Dabney. So we get to discuss gender roles, class distinctions, friendship, bodily autonomy — all kinds of stuff with these four women in different stages and different positions."
Both Crittenden and Allan worked on the show "Veep," where they honed their comedic skills and sharpened their blade for skewering political issues.
"Through our experience on 'Veep,'" Crittenden said, "it was really clear that we could say the most cutting, cruel, honest, horrible things. But if there's a veneer of comedy around it, people will laugh and listen and then go, 'Oh, my God.' And that's what we want. We want the jokes to hit, and then we want people to realize, 'Oh, this is actually real.' And so I think that that's the gift of comedy."
But setting the story in the past does not make it less relevant. In fact, it only proves how these issues have been around for a very long time.
"Just the other day, there were marches happening all over the country," Allan said. "And we were doing a show, and it was pretty — sadly — very timely. I mean, we started working on it in 2018. So Trump was president, and maybe the writing was on the wall. And then Roe v. Wade was overturned, and then it sadly became more relevant, and then really sadly continues to become more and more relevant."
Although Allan referred to the play as an "abortion musical," it is about a lot more than reproductive choice. The play tackles issues about gender, class, marriage, societal expectations, each woman making different choices and even female sexuality — including a song about masturbation.
But the book writers always had one clear goal in mind: never to be preachy or didactic.
"Our goal isn't to change any minds or recruit people to our side of whatever the discussion is," Crittenden insisted. "It's to have a discussion. We leave the theater and we hear people talking about it. And it's like you can have empathy for every character in the show, and every character makes a different choice. So that's what we want. We want to just create a little empathy, even though apparently that's becoming a bad word. We want to create a place where people can talk about having differences of opinion and still be able to communicate."
Allan agreed.
"Theater is not church. It's not moralistic. There's not a right and wrong," Allan said. "It's to inspire discussion, conversation. Our desire and hope is that people come out talking and connecting and communicating. When theater works, that's what it does. So we're hoping that that's what our show does, too."
You can find out for yourself if the show succeeds — and if laughter will provoke you to think about the issues raised in "Regency Girls." The world premiere musical will run through May 11 (recently extended) at the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage at the Old Globe Theatre.
