Moby-Dick

At the very least, The Building Stage’s nifty adaptation reminds us just how beautiful Melville’s prose is, especially when spoken aloud. But that, like the novel’s draw, is only part of a larger puzzle—and doesn’t necessarily make for good theater. What’s impressive about director Montgomery’s take is not only the hurdles it jumps (like slimming the plot without compromising characters’ nuances or Melville’s voice), but even more so, the risks it takes. In different hands, in fact, this probably would’ve been disastrous—ambitious, sure, but akin to staging Infinite Jest as a one-man show. For all its oddball trappings, though, the experiment works.

Rather than casting one actor as Ahab, another as Starbuck, etc., the six performers are used as a collective, an ensemble that constantly morphs into different characters. When the play opens up with Ishmael’s narration about his yearning for the high seas, actors cut each other off as the same character, sometimes breaking the fourth wall to define out-of-date nautical terms to the audience.

It’s a curious, highly physical production, and one that’s unique to the theater. Blue lighting on the actors’ cake-white faces creates an eerie vibe, while Kevin O’Donnell’s drum-propelled score, makes the crafty stage choreography that much more enticing.

At times, though, the relatively somber scenes don’t translate under this revved-up ingenuity. Still, considering the last Moby-Dick adaptation to hit town was White Horse’s sweet but flaky rock musical Keep Ishmael, it’s nice to see someone test more dangerous waters; Building Stage pushes the book’s boundaries while preserving its virtues.—Tim Lowery