STAGE REVIEW : Heavy Hand Puts Cracks in ‘Glass’ : Overdone Cypress production shatters the delicate balance of the dramatic classic.

“The Glass Menagerie” is probably Tennessee Williams’ most fragile major play. The emotions are so taut and overwhelming, and the characters’ painful individualism-bordering-on-eccentricity is so unbending that the drama risks reaching the shattering pitch of melodrama.

The play remains a classic (even though time continues to layer a patina of quaintness) but it’s a classic that can’t take many hard knocks. If the acting isn’t just right, all the yearning at its core can seem uneasily self-conscious.

That’s the overriding impression made by the Cypress Civic Theatre Guild’s revival during Friday’s opening night performance. This isn’t a dreadful production, just an overdone one. In trying to make the most of Williams’ story of Amanda and her two sad children, Tom and Laura, director Stan Bromberg and his cast try too hard, and you just can’t ignore all the exertion.

The tone is set with William Peters’ approach to Tom’s opening monologue, when he tells of the times, his family and his fettered dream of becoming a writer and free spirit. Peters doesn’t so much talk to us as he implores us to understand and become involved. You can’t forget that he’s acting, and it disengages the audience from his hard-working performance.

Elizabeth Todd-Sites, who plays the “crippled” Laura, has talent but gives us a character who is too shallow. Her Laura has been reduced to unbearable shyness, which sells this dreamer short.

Elaine Herman as Amanda fares the best. Though she too is sometimes excessive, it does not stand out as much as with the others, primarily because Amanda is such a desperate character to begin with, almost beside herself with love for Tom and Laura.

Ross Drishinski’s acting as Jim, the “gentleman caller,” can’t be called deft. But he does communicate Jim’s benign self-absorption.

There were a few apparent miscues with Chris Fording and A. Michael Dickey’s lighting on opening night (at least one key scene was almost in darkness). However, Phil Lubman and Dave Lewis’ set is a good-looking community theater effort.

‘The Glass Menagerie’

Elaine Herman: Amanda

William Peters: Tom

Elizabeth Todd-Sites: Laura

Ross Drishinski: The Gentleman Caller

A Cypress Civic Theatre Guild production of the play by Tennessee Williams. Directed by Stan Bromberg. Set by Phil Lubman and Dave Lewis. Lighting design by Chris Fording and A. Michael Dickey. Continues Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. through Feb. 1 at the Cypress Cultural Arts Center, 5172 Orange Ave., Cypress. Tickets: $8. (714) 229-6796.