The Urban Legend

The School Newspaper of Urban School of San Francisco

The Urban Legend

The School Newspaper of Urban School of San Francisco

The Urban Legend

Nymph Errant

Nymph+Errant

Only Urban would stage a play that revolves around a young woman trying to lose her virginity. Nymph Errant, by Cole Porter and Romney Brent, opened in Manchester on Sept. 11, 1933, and ran for only 154 performances. (Here in California, 76 years later, it could not be anything but the contrary.) Director Wendy Parkman and her cast breathe life into this wonderful play that has never seen the lights of Broadway.

The star of Nymph Errant is young, naïve Evangeline Edwards (Taylor Bostwick and Morgen Warner, doublecast). On her way home to Oxford after her final year at school in Switzerland, Evangeline goes astray. As she travels around Europe, her hope for a casual dalliance turns into a desperate search for a man. What starts off as a whim in Néville-sur-Mer becomes a carefully planned yet manic prowl for amour and adventure. Yet she remains frustratingly chaste as she travels from country to country and eventually finds herself home in Oxford, her virginity intact.

The play is dizzyingly entertaining, peppered with jokes and full of obscure Cole Porter songs. The tone of the play is set by the song “Experiment,” sung by Miss Pratt (Hannah Gorman). Pratt, an eccentric chemistry teacher, gathers Evangeline and her school friends around and advises them all to be “curious.” Although this advice leads most of these girls to trouble, Gorman is nevertheless lovely, filling the room with character and gusto. The song not only shapes the play, but sets the standard for the caliber of talent in this performance.

As one might guess, Nymph Errant would be controversial at most high schools. One of the highlight songs in the play, “Si Vous Aimez Les Poitrines”, (sung by Samantha Kostick as Madeleine), translates literally from French to mean “if you like the (female) bust.”  Luckily most of audience didn’t speak French, but even so, the meaning was obvious. The song was taken with good humor and was awarded loud applause. Other schools might not have had the chance to see Kostick deliver the song with such good taste and incredible talent.

Though Urban is more accepting than most schools, there is still a line that wasn’t crossed. According to cast members, before Parkman edited the script, it was full of racist jokes that were apparently acceptable 76 years ago.

Other performance highlights were Carter Bostwick singing “Solomon” (which takes place in a harem); a truly awkward train situation in Act 1; and the impressive array of accents, reflecting the fact that the play is set all over Europe. Taylor Bostwick and Morgen Warner, who portrayed Evangeline on alternating nights, each brought their own spin, making every performance a unique treat. With this production, Nymph Errant is saved from its theatrical grave and transformed into a new and wonderful experience.

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Nymph Errant