Larger-Than-Life Dreams Unfold in Dos Passos’ Sweeping ‘U.S.A.’

John Dos Passos’ “U.S.A.” could have been an early blueprint for E.L. Doctorow’s “Ragtime.” Incorporating fictional characters with famous personages of the day, Dos Passos’ epic novel--actually a trilogy combined into one volume--was a sprawling, decade-by-decade account of America’s fortunes and follies, from the turn of the century through the 1920s. The book was unprecedented, a camera’s-eye pastiche of American life that blurred the fictional with the factual.

Dos Passos later converted his work for the stage with co-writer Paul Shyre. Their adaptation of “U.S.A.,” now at the Met, is an ambitious effort that revolves primarily around the meteoric rise of small-town dreamer John Ward Moorehouse (Joe Reynolds), an early public relations maven whose American Dream life and career are the connecting thread of the far-flung narrative. However, the play’s reach exceeds the grasp of director John James Hickey and his earnest but limited cast, who reduce the proceedings to a quaint period piece.

The evening is underscored by piano accompaniment. The sprightly score, which ranges from the ragtime rhythms of the fin de siecle to the full-blown jazz of the Roaring ‘20s, consists of classic American songs, augmented by Hickey and musical director Dan Redfield’s original music. In addition to occasional song interludes, the cast performs all of the sound effects, from the chugging hisses of a commuter train to the whistling mortars of a battlefield. It’s an awkwardly rendered conceit that overburdens Hickey’s already strained staging.

Although the staging falls short, the sheer sweep of dramatic events--and the rare opportunity to see an American classic--keep us profitably occupied for the duration.

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* “U.S.A.,” Met Theatre, 1089 N. Oxford Ave., Hollywood. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m. Ends April 1. $15. (323) 957-1152. Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes.