Orlando

Virginia Woolf’s picaresque novel—which tracks a Candide-like English adventurer through several centuries and a sudden change of sex—has a charming literary airiness. In Sarah Ruhl’s arty story-theater adaptation, however, this quality often desublimates into mannered whimsy. Despite some cleverly compressed writing and attractive scenic effects, Rebecca Taichman’s production (which stars Francesca Faridany and a prankish David Greenspan) is a bit like an illustrated women’s-studies lecture.—Adam Feldman