Turning The Curious Case of Benjamin Button into a musical is, indeed, curious. Within the first few moments of The Public Theater’s North American premiere, I was convinced I was watching Come From Away as an enthusiastic ensemble stomped to Celtic rhythms and set in motion the fantastical story of a boy born an old man.
Based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story of the same name, and later made into an Academy Award-winning film starring Brad Pitt as the reverse-aging protagonist, this latest incarnation transports the story to a Cornish fishing village, beginning in 1918.
Creators Jethro Compton (book and lyrics) and Darren Clark (music and lyrics) have cast the net so wide, though, that the central story occasionally slips through the mesh.
The clock keeps ticking
Benjamin Button asks nearly the impossible of its spirited cast, who play multiple roles and instruments to unfurl the decades-spanning story that follows the aged child (Andrew Durand) from a secluded attic to the front lines of World War II, and eventually back to the small seaside village and the family he abandoned.
It’s a lot to pack in, with little breathing room in the lyrically dense but melodically sweeping score. In RENT, Jonathan Larson made a profound impact with 525,600 minutes as a poignant mathematical metaphor for seasons of love. Compton and Clark, by contrast, inundate us with dozens of timestamps until they’re exhausting.
Durand (an unconventional leading man after a standout performance in Dead Outlaw) reverse-engineers his way into Benjamin, shedding the aches and pains of aging until the man becomes a boy. Kelsee Kimmel as Elowen, the barmaid who serves him his first beer at 59 and eventually becomes his wife and mother of his children, keeps the lost-at-sea plot on course.
Compton’s sea-weathered scenic design gives the acting company plenty of levels and room to lug around their instruments, but Anna Kelsey’s costume design is the real stunner. Cable-knit jumpers, patched dungarees, and darned skirts in moss, slate, and ochre look salvaged from a Cornish net loft, frayed as if the tide has been at them for decades.
At the preview performance I attended, the ensemble was still finding its rhythm in Chi-San Howard’s choreography, an overly fussy combination of formations that read more like a high school marching band than a pub jig. Their Cornish accents, meanwhile, wander farther afield than Benjamin does.
At its heart, though, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button delivers a love story for the ages, even if the musical is still growing into it.
It wants better content.
Is ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ worth seeing?
Andrew Durand, Kelsee Kimmel, and an ensemble of actor-musicians make a warm case for this Olivier winner, even as its clock-watching book crowds the romance at its center.
- The Public Theater, 425 Lafayette St., New York City
- Notable performers: Andrew Durand, Kelsee Kimmel
- Running time: TBC. The West End production ran about two hours with intermission, so confirm the Public’s timing with the press rep.
- Performances through December 6
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