‘Kindergarten’: A Touching Primer on Life

Ernest Zulia’s stage adaptation of Robert Fulghum’s “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten” sensitively addresses the problems and inconveniences of life in 18 thought-provoking and sniffle-invoking vignettes.

Under Zulia’s direction, the four-person cast (Beth Howland, Robert Mandan, David Naughton and Michael Tucci) overcomes minor limitations to do some wonderful storytelling at the Tiffany Theater.

Although Michael Pollock provides live piano music and the cast does sing, this essentially is not a musical--a good thing, too. David Caldwell’s music and lyrics are a bit cliched and not terribly clever. On the whole, the score resembles something for an educational children’s program, and as such it is serviceable enough.

Also, while there are singers who act and actors who sing, this ensemble is definitely from the latter category. All bravely attempt to carry a tune; their voices were thin or off-key in some passages. Yet these faults aren’t so problematic because the music is secondary to the acting and ensemble work.

Beginning in a kindergarten classroom, Zulia illustrates Fulghum’s observations on hope and optimism. Children believe they can dance, draw, sing and paint--only to become adults too afraid to do anything except “draw conclusions” or sing in the shower. Their imaginations are stifled--they’re creative only on their tax returns. In becoming adults, people also forget the kindergarten “sandbox code of ethics”: Share, play fair, don’t hit people, say you’re sorry, clean up your own mess, etc.

As the adapter, Zulia balances the different stages of life--a father-and-son relationship, an elderly couple’s Christmas celebration, a wedding comedy and a grandfather-grandchild relationship.

Besides looking at family relations, Fulghum also questions the meaning of failure, adversity and love, using such disparate historical figures as Beethoven, Charles Boyer and the “Jingle Bells” lyricist, and Zulia includes these history lessons as well. Zulia’s adaptation has a gentle flow that neither slams us against abrupt surprises nor lulls us into satisfied complacency.

Under Zulia’s direction, this ensemble carefully avoids being too cutesy as children or too maudlin in their adult roles. The actors give understated, deeply nuanced performances that left the audience searching for hankies.

* “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten,” Tiffany Theater, 8532 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Ends Oct. 27. $32. (310) 289-2999. Running time: 2 hours, 5 minutes.