Playwright: adapted by Peter Parnell from the novel by John Irving
At: Famous Door Theatre at Victory Gardens, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave.
Phone: (773) 871-3000; $15-$32
Runs through: April 6
BY MARY SHEN BARNIDGE
It's a story so big, it takes TWO plays to tell it. Adapter Peter Parnell is renowned for his expertise at long-form narrative, however, and playgoers already familiar with John Irving's bestselling novel will find its salient features transferred intact to the stage (unlike the 1999 film, which represented its source material as a scone represents a wedding cake). Those who are not are warned to listen closely, but they, too, may expect to be amply rewarded with a saga as vivid, poignant and richly detailed as any generated in western literature.
The world of Dickens is invoked in the bedtime readings of David Copperfield and Great Expectations customary in the orphanage where we meet Homer Wells, an innocent whose path will be guided by the exhortation to make himself 'useful.' His mentor is the institution's doctor-in-residence, one Wilber Larch, whose fierce humanitarian ethos drives him to both deliver and abort the offspring of the women who seek his aid (an attitude nowadays called 'pro-choice' but unthinkable in the 1880s). In this restricted universe, Homer's education flourishes until the end of Part One has him departing for what his elders believe to be a better life.
If the adapter's challenge is one of inclusivity, the performers' challenge is one of stamina. As demonstrated by the vintage dramas in vogue this season, actors untrained at sustaining characters over more than 90 minutes risk running out of wind with the finish line barely in sight. Fortunately, Famous Door co-directors David Cromer and Marc Grapey have assembled a team of veteran players, whose energy and pacing never falter for an instant in the course of their marathon.
Newcomer Daniel Kuhlman makes a suitably ingenuous New-England Huckleberry Finn, but the spine and sinew of the show are Larry Neumann, Jr.'s phenomenal portrayal of the multifaceted Dr. Larch. Muscular support is rendered by Elaine Rivkin and Laura T. Fisher as his two faithful nurses, along with an ensemble that sweeps us through 60 years and 500 miles with never a misstep, assisted by Brian Sydney Bembridge's shape-shifting set and Joseph Fosco's subliminally evocative sound design. And there's still the SECOND half coming next month!