But it is a clear-headed, psychologically insightful and fluid staging.
Not only is it ambitious, but it pulls off its attempt to fuse large-scale ensemble playing, all-hands-on-deck music and fluid staging with aplomb.
This fluid staging becomes a metaphor for an existence in endless transit: the frozen figures on rolling platforms are in limbo.
Seeing something concrete also helps people more easily articulate their concerns and give more constructive feedback while an idea is still at a fluid stage.
Jones achieved unencumbered, fluid stage arrangements in which it was possible (as it had been on the Shakespearean stage) to change scenes with a minimal shifting of props and backgrounds.
This production, with sets and costumes by Robert Innes Hopkins and puppetry by Blind Summit Theater, is a triumph of simplicity and fluid stage maneuvers.
Mr. Hytner's impressively fluid staging places the cast in evocative period costumes (by Bob Crowley) against the backdrops of spare, modern-looking sets (also by Mr. Crowley).
Tom Ferriter has directed a fluid staging, although at 2 hours and 40 minutes, there are repetitions and padding, and probably one character could be excised without losing any of the intrigue and menace in Ms. Culebro's tale.
The production has Christopher Barreca's handsome, brooding set; gorgeous lighting, by Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer David Pleasantt's sensational bongo playing; Graciela Daniele's fluid staging; and, most important, the extraordinary voice of McDonald, who is a force of nature.
For the most part it was an impressive success: an inventive, fluid staging and a feat of technological wizardry that employs sophisticated video elements without turning into a video show.
