Towering Puppets

Set in 1888 Arles, the new musical “Poet’s Garden,” at the Matrix, posits a romantic triangle involving Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin and a local matron whom both artists famously painted in that same year.

The steamy interlude that fuels the plot probably never occurred. And indeed, Marie Ginoux, the fleshy provincial immortalized by Van Gogh and Gauguin in their respective paintings “The Arlesienne” and “The Night Cafe,” hardly seems the femme fatale type.

According to co-creators John Allee and Gary Matanky (both wrote the book and lyrics, Allee the music), Marie is a repressed hottie who longs to slip her domestic bonds and find a larger scope for her smoldering intellect. The question is, is Marie hot enough to sustain a nearly three-hour narrative?

The answer is a thudding negative. That’s a shame too because the glorious design elements in this “Garden” make a brave show. Katherine Ferwerda’s set uses elements of Van Gogh’s Arles’ masterworks to re-create the sunlit milieu of Provence, with Doug Spesert’s costumes and Steven Young’s mellow lighting completing the colorful period portrait.

Unfortunately, a game staging by Michael Michetti fails to mitigate the essential dullness of this production, a miniature that far exceeds its modest framework.

The performers are strong singers trapped in the fast-congealing impasto of Allee and Matanky’s plot. Fiama Fricano brings modest fire to Marie, but her characters’ endless plaints about her unfulfilled life come across as unmotivated tantrums. Bjorn Johnson, who strikingly resembles Van Gogh, brings a touching element of mania to a strong portrayal. Steven Memel’s Gauguin may leer intensely at Marie, yet when Gauguin begs Marie to run away with him, we don’t buy it for a minute.

Michael DeVries labors to invest his thankless role as Marie’s husband, Joseph-Michael Ginoux, with a soupcon of dignity. Brad Blaisdell and Dina Bennett round out the cast as Joseph and Augustine Roulin, comical villagers intended to interject some levity into the proceedings. The Roulins were also painted by Van Gogh during his time in Arles, as was Joseph-Michael. All should have stayed firmly fixed on their canvases, where they belong.

*

“Poet’s Garden,” Matrix Theatre, 7657 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3 p.m. Ends June 3. $25. (310) 289-2999. Running time: 2 hours, 45 minutes.