Stirring Finale Lifts Hit-and-Miss ‘Menagerie’

“The Glass Menagerie” is a temperamental play that presents a particular problem to any interpreters. Imprecisely handled, material this familiar can seem hackneyed, the characters stock.

Craig Wargo carefully calibrates his staging at the Stella Adler Theatre to avoid any hint of excess. But that in itself is a problem. Tennessee Williams’ challenging masterwork requires a tiny bit of excess, and while Wargo’s kid-gloves approach often succeeds beautifully, a few key scenes are so muted they seem funereal.

Robert Steinberg has effectively studded his bleak set with a few fine pieces, the remnants of lost affluence. Rand Ryan’s subdued lighting and Robb Wargo’s fine costumes help set the wistful mood for this memory play.

Barbara Babcock deserves high marks for her delicate, distinctly uncampy Amanda, a “Christian martyr” who grasps her crucifix necklace and casts her eyes to the heavens when she meets with resistance from her recalcitrant son Tom (Josh Adell). Certainly, Amanda’s pathologically shy daughter Laura (Heather Tom) lacks the will to resist.

When Babcock overdoes the martyred languor, as in the “deception” scene, the pace flags. However, when Jim O’Connor, the long-awaited Gentleman Caller (Shannon Stoeke), finally arrives, Babcock hits her brilliant stride in a sequence that has reduced many an actress to flouncing travesty.

Initially stiff, Adell takes his time involving us, but his famous final speech is emotionally devastating. Stoeke is pitiably peppy as O’Connor, who we suspect is a Willie Loman in training. And Tom’s poignantly tremulous Laura is a fascinating study in fragility and loss.

BE THERE

“The Glass Menagerie,” Stella Adler Theatre, 6773 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m. Ends Aug. 23. $15. (323) 857-0207. Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes.