STAGE REVIEW : HESTON DISAPPOINTS IN ‘CAINE MUTINY’

There are several strikes against “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial” that opened Tuesday at the Henry Fonda Theatre.

First, this Herman Wouk adaptation of his own Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is basic courtroom drama--a specialized form that has its lovers and detractors for no better (or worse) reason than that it is what it is.

Second, “Caine Mutiny” happens to be courtroom theater of a particularly creaky kind. It is less a victim of age (the original production dates back to 1954) than changing tastes and styles, and even its earlier successes had depended almost exclusively on star turns.

Third, adaptations of novels, prize-winning or no, don’t have much of a record as dramatic literature. “Caine Mutiny” is no exception.

All of this, of course, could be countermanded by one lucky spin of the dice: a production so vivid and exciting that it would send these objections flying. Would that were the case at the Fonda. It isn’t.

The production that has taken up residence there for three weeks (on its way to Washington’s Kennedy Center) is a reproduction of one that, we are told, caused a stir last season in London. Charlton Heston directed and starred then--as he does now--as the neurotic Captain Queeg. Improbably, English actor Ben Cross (best known in this country for his leading role in the movie “Chariots of Fire”) was retained from the British company to play the very American Lt. Barney Greenwald in a flawless American accent.

Actors’ Equity has relaxed its rules about English actors performing in the States in the much healthier interest of improved cultural exchange. Aside from the debatable issue of whether it should or should not have sanctioned Cross for the role, the production overall is so irretrievably flat that it seems to matter little, one way or the other.

For all of his casual polish, Cross brings little fire to his attorney for the defense. No sense of the brash, streetwise, original-thinking Jew exists in the performance. Cross, like the rest of the company, seems caught in a trance of respectability that makes this “Caine Mutiny” one of the dreariest and most mechanical on record.

Inevitably, one has to look to Heston, who is at the center of the event. Regrettably, his direction is as inert as his performance in a production that becomes almost claustrophobic in its lack of true energy. Some of the blame for that can be shared by the Fonda Theatre, whose wine-colored walls close in on an audience after a while, but nothing that lives and breathes is going on on that stage to counteract the effect.

As director, Heston has given us a by-the-numbers reconstitution of the play. His actors, even the good ones, give strictly vocal performances--from the mouth out. And his own Queeg is primarily a variation on clenched jaws. One can understand the attraction of the role, but Heston, with his impressive stature and deportment, could hardly be less suited for it. The emotional breakdown at the heart of that performance simply doesn’t work. The resources are not there.

Saul Radomsky’s set is appropriately massive and Martin Aronstein’s lighting bright enough. They do not overcome the absence of anything worth watching.

‘THE CAINE MUTINY COURT-MARTIAL’

A revival of Herman Wouk’s adaptation of his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel at the Henry Fonda Theatre. Producers the Kennedy Center and Joseph Wouk by special arrangement with Duncan C. Weldon (with Lionel Becker and Jerome Minskoff). Director Charlton Heston. Designer Saul Radomsky. Lights Martin Aronstein. Cast Ben Cross, Charlton Heston, John Corey, Stephen Macht, Joe George, Frank Aletter, Michael Thoma, William Wright, Robert Rockwell, Vincent Marzello, Karl Wiedergott and others. Performances at 6126 Hollywood Blvd. run Mondays through Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Wednesdays and Saturdays, 2 p.m.; Sundays 3 p.m. Ends May 24. (213-410-1062 or 714-634-1300.