STAGE REVIEWS : ‘View’ and ‘Roberts’: Two Revivals of Americana : The Gnu Theatre production of the Arthur Miller play about sexual repression lacks spark.

There’s only one thing missing from the Gnu Theatre’s otherwise impeccable revival of Arthur Miller’s “A View From the Bridge.”

Sex.

No, this isn’t a call for onstage gymnastics. It’s just that without more sexual chemistry between the actors, the play is too predictable, too harnessed.

It’s the story of Eddie Carbone (Ric Mancini), a longshoreman who is overly protective of his wife’s niece (Samantha Humphrey), an orphan who has been raised by her aunt and Eddie.

Eddie is supposed to be more than a domineering surrogate parent. He is also supposed to have a repressed lust for his ward. At one point he finally grabs her and kisses her on the lips; the terrible truth is finally out in the open. This kiss should reverberate.

In this production, the kiss comes from out of the blue and then vanishes. When Eddie’s wife (Catherine Paolone) complains of his diminished libido, we don’t sense that he has subconsciously directed his libido at his niece; it simply seems to be missing.

Mancini’s performance has strength, but it’s the strength of an obsessed parent, not a would-be lover.

Nor is there much of a sexual charge between Humphrey and her fiance, the goofy illegal Italian immigrant Rodolpho (Paul Raczkowski). The unlikelihood of their union makes you understand Eddie’s point of view, if not his hidden heart.

The weakness of the sexual subtext sanitizes director-designer Jeff Seymour’s beautifully assembled staging. Humphrey, Paolone and Don Nardini as Rodolpho’s brother, Marco--feral in his final rage--are all superb, as far as their individual performances go. And even Mancini and Raczkowski take their roles as far as they can, under the circumstances.

Peter Carew conveys solemn gravity as the lawyer who narrates this tale of woe, and Ron French and Lou Bonacki are swell as the two primary singers in the play’s Greek chorus.

Eddie’s wife worries that she hasn’t washed the walls, and Seymour made sure that the walls look unwashed in the glow of Lawrence Oberman’s lighting. Opera, jazz and “Chestnuts Roasting” on the soundtrack add much to the atmosphere, as do Sharon Katz’s costumes.

At 10426 Magnolia Blvd., North Hollywood, Thursdays through Sundays at 8 p.m., through Jan. 20. $15-$20; (818) 508-5344.