Welles' concept put the tale into a new context: the rehearsal of a proposed production by a flamboyant actor-manager in an unnamed Victorian theater. The actors must improvise as they go along, working with imaginary props and without the technical resources of modern theater. James Whitmore Jr. ably steps into Welles' shoes to play the theater manager; Captain Ahab; and the sailors' preacher, Father Mapple. Because the script eliminates or minimizes many of the novel's characters, the only other figures to emerge memorably from the ensemble are Dustin Seaver as the narrator, Ishmael; Richard Cox as senior seaman Starbuck, who tries to check Ahab's mad pursuit of the whale; and Tim deZarn as Peleg and the ship's carpenter.
Director Aliah Whitmore manages to stage the piece with considerable clarity but doesn't supply the richness of texture it needs. The ensemble (Steve Madar, Robert Fabiani, Andre Verderame, Andrew Patton, Michael G. Welch, and Kate McManus) is allowed to play generic sailors, and even such colorful characters as the cabin boy Black Pip and the two harpooners—the Native American Tashtego and the Polynesian Queequeg—are hardly characterized at all. Perhaps the actors should have been urged to mine Melville's text for character information not supplied by the stripped-down playscript.
Production designer Jacob Whitmore's set provides the kind of richness that is lacking in the rest of the production, filled as it is with strange props—including human skeletons, stuffed animals, and oil lanterns and lamps. And in a private joke, one of the driftwood set pieces is inscribed with the name Rosebud. The set also features a large muslin screen that's used only once, for a lackluster shadow play, but might have been better employed to enliven the awkward sea battle at the climax.
The acting honors must go to Whitmore for his Captain Ahab, Cox for his strong presence as Starbuck, and deZarn for several richly detailed and crusty characters.
Presented by Whitmore Eclectic at the Lyric Theatre, 520 N. La Brea Ave., L.A. Aug. 4-28. Thu.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m. (818) 826-3609 or www.whitmoreeclectic.com.
