Children’s theater doesn’t get much darker than 24th STreet Theatre’s The Miraculous Journey Of Edward Tulane, and not just because the lights are turned way down low on the starkest of production designs. Dwayne Hartford’s adaptation of Newbery Medalist Kate DiCamillo’s tale of a toy rabbit’s passage from owner to owner in Depression-era America is grim as can be, though not without hope and moments of joy.

Carlos Larkin gives Scottish-accented voice to the thoughts of china-faced Edward as pianist Bradley Brough underscores the action and provides keyboard accompaniment to songs performed a cast of four (three of them playing over two-dozen characters among them), with kudos to sound designer Christopher Moscatiello for an expert mix.

Ten-year-old Abeline (Rachel Weck) is the first to call Edward her own, that is until her family (headed by Jennifer Hasty’s Grandmother Pelligrina) voyages on the Queen Mary and poor Edward falls into the deep blue sea where he remains underwater for 297 days until rescued by a fisherman (Brady Dalton Richards as Lawrence), whose daughter renames him Susanna and gives Edward a pretty new dress to wear. (Oh, the indignity!)

From then on, things go from bad to worse in scenes that introduce Edward (or Malone as he is next known) to poverty (this being the height of the Great Depression), illness, and death.

If it’s not already obvious, Disney-style entertainment this is not, though fortunately for Edward (and for audiences from 8 to 80 as well), our self-centered hero does end up learning the meaning of kindness, generosity, and redemptive love, lessons all the more relevant in post-2016 America.

Debbie Divine’s imaginative direction benefits from an all-around superb cast, from Larkin’s heart-touching charmer of an Edward (or more precisely, his inner voice) to Hasty, Richards, and Weck, who not only create characters ranging from the most sympathetic to the hardest of heart but prove themselves splendid singers as well, whether harmonizing to Leeav Sofer’s original “(Love Will) Guide Me Home” or to oldies-but-goodies like “Hush Little Baby,” “It’s A Long Way To Tipperary,” and “Nobody Knows The Trouble I’ve Seen.”

Less successful, for this reviewer at least, is a production design that takes stark to the extreme, not merely in Keith Mitchell’s set that consists of nothing more than a wheeled scaffold, an A-shaped ladder, and a screen to frame black-and-white scene-setting projections, but also in costumer Shannon A. Kennedy’s one-design-fits-all black jackets, shirts, and slacks. (Even Matthew G. Hill’s projections are in 1920s/30s-style black-and-white.)

Factor in lighting (by Dan Weingarten) that frequently casts the audience in drowsiness-inducing near-darkness, and I can’t help wishing 24th STreet Theatre had opted for a more colorful, fanciful design to counter a story already sufficiently dark as written, particularly given its pre-teen target audience. (A notable exception occurs when the theater ceiling is filled with late-night stars, a lighting effect that is simply breathtaking.)

On the plus side, by projecting a simultaneous Spanish-language translation of Hartford’s dialog courtesy of Aleida Montejo and Miranda Landfield, 24th STreet Theatre opens up the production to a much larger audience than would be the case without supertitles.

Effy Yang is assistant video designer. Edward is designed by Kennedy, who also created his charming gray ensemble.

The Miraculous Journey Of Edward Tulane is produced by Jay McAdams and Jennie McInnis. Alexx Zachary is technical director. Brianna Zamora is stage manager. Casting is by Michael Donovan, CSA. Richie Ferris is casting assistant.

I spent the final minutes of Edward’s miraculous journey wiping well-earned tears from my eyes. Still, signature look or not, I can’t help wishing 24th Street Theatre had taken a brighter design path this time round. The Miraculous Journey Of Edward Tulane is grim enough as is without added darkness.

24th STreet Theatre, 1117 West 24th Street, Los Angeles.
www.24thstreet.org

–Steven Stanley
April 7, 2019
Photos: Cooper Bates

Tags: 24th STreet Theatre, Dwayne Hartford, Kate DiCamillo, Los Angeles Theater Review