Ah, the theater - in few other performing arts can such a volatile mixture of hubris and emotional vulnerability be found. Those that tread the boards searching for artistic nirvana are a rare breed and all kidding aside, do more with words and gestures than some can do with a guitar or a paintbrush. The noble tradition of theatrical acting is something that still has an air of venerability about it - how many other art forms can say that? Predominantly considered a man's game, it wasn't until the late 17th century and the beginning of the English Reformation that attitudes began to shift regarding the practice of men portraying women onstage - the turning point of which is used as the basis for Jeffrey Hatcher's play, "Stage Beauty."

Director Richard Eyre (Iris) helms this adaptation of Hatcher's play (actually adapted by the playwright himself) which stars Billy Crudup as the temperamental diva Edward "Ned" Kynaston and Claire Danes as his dresser, Maria. Stage Beauty, as previously alluded to, is set in the 1660s at a time when women's roles were played by men during theatrical productions. Kynaston is England's most celebrated "leading lady," blending an uncanny knack for channeling considerable feminine tendencies and dressing the part to make the great female roles his own. But when King Charles II (Rupert Everett) tires of seeing the same performers repeatedly, the ruler allows actual women to take their turn onstage, thereby forcing men out of women's parts.

Ned's world is turned upside down in short order - he's clearly positioned as a bisexual and has trouble adjusting to his "new" masculine role - becoming a nobody on the brink of suicide. Maria, who achieves tremendous fame in no time, is forced to step in and avert disaster before Ned does something drastic. The points offered for consideration in the film are indeed intriguing - the nature of identity, be it sexual or physical; the evolution of acting; the political machinations at work backstage - but whereas Shakespeare In Love (a film to which Stage Beauty bears a passing resemblance) was engaging and boasted actors who sparked one another, this work is largely flat and unaffecting. This is not to say that Eyre doesn't get great performances out of his cast - Everett, Tom Wilkinson, Hugh Bonneville, Ben Chaplin and Richard Griffiths, among others - but Crudup is strangely hysterical for many of his scenes and Danes is often quite wooden.

Overall, Stage Beauty is less than the sum of its parts. Lovely to look at and with a few salient points about gender and the theater, only die-hard thespianites will want to revel in this period drama - it's not horrible, but is a story that's been better told elsewhere.

The Video:

The sumptuous cinematography of Andrew Dunn is given an admirable presentation with this 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer (modified from its 2.35:1 theatrical ratio), although the image tends to suffer in low light, exposing a lot of grain, softness and occasional flecking. The period costumes and flesh tones look spot on and generally, Stage Beauty looks appropriately subdued - overall, a nice, if unremarkable, effort.

English Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby 2.0 stereo are the audio options available; since this work is based upon a play, there's dialogue aplenty and all of it sounds perfectly clean and clear. George Fenton's score doesn't overwhelm things and the ambient sound effects fill in the surrounds nicely. A solid aural presentation of a dialogue-heavy film.

Not surprisingly, only a modest array of extras are available - director Eyre contributes a chatty, informal commentary that covers everything from shooting schedules to inspirations for staging certain scenes. It's informative but not terribly energizing. Also included are seven fullscreen featurettes - "Origins & Themes," "Casting The Leads," "The Most Beautiful Woman in the House," "Acting Styles," "Research & Design," "Makeup & Costumes" and "Curtain Call" - which can be played separately or all together for an aggregate running time of 23 minutes, 43 seconds. Trailers for Blind Horizon, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, I Am David and La Virgen de la Lujuria are also included - all of them fullscreen, except for I Am David, which is non-anamorphic widescreen.

A well-intentioned, if occasionally slow-paced, pulling back of the proverbial curtain, Stage Beauty is meant as a showcase for Crudup and Danes, but ends up highlighting the amazing production design and stunning cinematography instead. Those inamored with British history and lore of ye olde theater days will enjoy this adaptation while others would do well to give it a once-over via rental.