Despite Tim Vasen's vigorous direction and a versatile cast, Keith Bunin's "The World Over" eventually loses steam. The Playwrights Horizons production at The Duke on 42nd Street is a work in which the aptly named Adam goes through a series of temptations and adventures in search of his origins in the land of Gildoray, which existed for only one day.
Told in story-theatre style, complete with a narrator and an imaginative use of props, the work resembles "The Odyssey," "Peer Gynt," "Oedipus," "Turandot," and "Candide," among others, but rarely settles on its own distinctive voice. Only occasionally, as in a sequence with a vicious gryphon, does the evening fly.
The tales don't coalesce in order to take audiences into fresh realms of beauty and poetry. Although much is compelling, much also seems to be marking time. Not only is the story's thread lost by Act Two, but it's hard to care just what happens to Adam, or why. As one character says to our hero, "You've been everywhere, but we could never determine your purpose for wandering so ceaselessly."
The production is clever in a "Nicholas Nickleby" way. A carriage-like contraption also doubles as a ship, realistic charts convey satirical information, ladders become cave walls, etc. Behind glass panels stand items such as a warrior's costume, a boat model, and a toy horse that are used to illustrate incidents.
As Adam, Justin Kirk is intense, skillfully shifting between the wanderer's pain and yearning. Everyone else takes multiple roles--Mia Barron, Stephen Largay, Matthew Maher, Rhea Seehorn, James Urbaniak, and, especially, Kevin Isola--and dive resourcefully into their diverse characterizations.
The technical credits are first-rate. Mark Wendland's set, Michael Chybowski's lighting, Ilona Somogyi's costumes, and David Van Tieghem's original music and sound design create airy magic. But the play itself is tethered to the earth.