STAGE REVIEW : ‘Great Expectations’ Fulfills Great Expectations

Some expectations of greatness, as Pip learns in the Charles Dickens classic “Great Expectations,” are better left undreamt.

When a mysterious gift of money takes Pip out of his work as blacksmith apprentice and gives him the means of becoming a gentleman, it not only does not give him the beautiful, proud girl he yearns for, but it also takes him away from the humble one who might have made him happy.

Other expectations of greatness, like those of the North Coast Repertory Theatre presenting its most ambitious production yet, through Nov. 13--the West Coast premiere of “Great Expectations,” adapted by Barbara Fields--yield to happier endings.

The show, made possible by the financial and artistic backing of co-producer United States International University, traverses a vivid and ultimately wrenching journey through the haunting byways of one of Dickens’ darkest and most poignant stories.

It is a production of which both the North Coast and USIU, which has until now been best known for musicals and light comedies at the Theatre in Old Town, should be proud. But the real beneficiary is the public, here offered a classic on a platter, as it were, with 14 people playing 26 parts--plus chorus--moving across three different locales over two decades on one versatile set in 2 1/2 hours.

It is an abundance of riches that, under David Larson’s sensitive direction, does not sacrifice the focus on the complex inner world of the evolving Pip that makes the work’s inimitable Dickensian heart tick.

Larson, a Professional Associate and Acting/Directing Faculty member with USIU, has assembled a pleasing mix of professional and USIU actors that, if not the ultimate cast for this work, does in every instance very nicely and, in most instances, quite nicely indeed.

As Young Pip, John Barger grows up smoothly into Howard Bickle as the young adult Pip. Barger returns as one of many chorus voices that alternately narrate the story, taking it forward and back, rooting the present firmly in the context of the past. Barger’s role in the chorus reaps powerful dramatic benefits: he provides a reminder of the child inside the man, a sensation movingly corroborated by subtle, troubled changes on Bickle’s face.

As the young Estella, the girl of Pip’s dreams, Elyse Salzman makes credible way for Patricia Heather Govenides in the adult role. Both actresses have their pulse on the chilly center of the lovely girl who was carefully brought up by her guardian, Miss Havisham, to have no heart.

In contrast, there is a chasm rather than a line between Johnathan Granthan as Pip’s friend, young Herbert Pocket, and Dana Pere as the grown-up version, although the individual performances are satisfying enough.

Brett Weir provides a refreshingly unself-conscious backbone of goodness as the blacksmith Joe, who takes the orphaned Pip into his hearth and his heart, and a winning comic diversion as the toothless, cannon shooting Aged Parent of a clerk who befriends Pip in more prosperous days.

Virgiana A. Boyle is by turns expressively sour-faced as Pip’s impatient sister, tormented as the ex-murderess, Molly, faded like a sweet sachet as an older bride-to-be, Miss Skiffins, and quietly authoritative as one of the most distinct leaders of the chorus.

Kathleen McNally is every ghostly inch the waxwork described by Dickens as Miss Havisham, the woman who stopped everything in her life except the desire for vengeance after being abandoned by her gold-digging suitor on her wedding day.

Beverly Lynn-Miller portrays two sides of sweetness as Biddy, the poor young girl in love with Pip, and Clara, the poor fiancee of Herbert Pocket. Warren Harker drives the story with raw, resonant force as Magwitch, the confused convict with a heart of gold who changes Pip’s life in ways he never imagined.

Andrew Barnicle’s set suits the production’s needs perfectly, with big stone walls, wrought iron gates, and shelves for adorning props that change a simple table and chairs from Joe’s kitchen, to Miss Havisham’s living room, to a coach and ultimately, a boat on the Thames.

Joining Barnicle, the Head of Theatre at USIU who has recently been named Associate Artistic Director of North Coast, is the USIU design team of Jack Shepherd, lighting; Marvin Read, sound, and Judy Ryerson, costumes. All complement the feel of Dickens’ fierce ambivalences about class divisions.

Shepherd’s subtle lighting changes over imagined distances and time is a poetic reminder of the longing that makes this work a foreshadowing of Jay Gatsby watching the green light at the other end of the water that represented his beloved moneyed Daisy in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby.”

The rich are very different from you and me,” is a statement Fitzgerald made to Ernest Hemingway that Dickens would, doubtless, have agreed with. Not simply because they have more money, as Hemingway responded then, but because they have lost touch with the generosity of people like Joe who keep on giving of their purses and their hearts even when they have nothing to give, as Dickens might have said.

Like “The Great Gatsby,” “Great Expectations” has the feel of a story that was very close to the author’s heart. Like Pip, whose boyish impressions lead to his eventual fortune and romantic unhappiness, Dickens drew upon his impoverished boyhood to write the books that brought him his own fortune and unhappy marriage.

‘GREAT EXPECTATIONS’

By Charles Dickens. Adapted by Barbara Fields. Directed by David Larson. Set, Andrew Barnicle. Lighting, Jack Shepherd. Sound, Marvin Read. Costumes, Judy Ryerson. With John Barger, Warren Harker, Brett Weir, Virginia A. Boyle, Robert F. Stark, Dana Pere, Jim Bradford, Elyse Salzman, Kathleen McNally, Beverly Lynn-Miller, Johnathan (CQ) Granthan, Howard Bickle, Patricia Heather Govenides and Matthew Barger. At 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Oct. 16 and 23 and Nov. 6 and 13, and 7 p.m. Sundays (except Nov. 13). Closes Nov. 13. At 987D Lomas Santa Fe Drive, Solana Beach.