Theater review by Adam Feldman
Jethro Compton and Darren Clark's musical folktale The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, adapted from F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1922 short story about a man who ages backwards, moves the setting from 19th-century America to 20th-century Cornwall, and fills the stage with actor-musician-narrators who play multiple instruments along with small roles. The title character is embodied by the gifted Andrew Durand, on the heels of successive successes in Shucked, Dead Outlaw and The Rocky Horror Show; Kelsee Kimmel co-stars as the love of his life, Brandon J. Ellis is his withholding father and Morgan Morse is a friendly sailor. Depending on your tolerance for extended whimsy, the show may delight you or drive you up a twee.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button | Photograph: Courtesy Joan Marcus
There are impressive moments in Compton’s staging, including a pair of drowning sequences that Durand enacts with beautiful control. But this quite long musical outstays its short-story welcome. Benjamin is a symbolic folktale figure, not a believable person; as the musical buffets him from scene to scene, in a perpetual state of befuddled determination, he’s not much less passive than the movable corpse Durand played in Dead Outlaw. And although much of Clark’s music is lively and performed with enthusiasm, its folksy pub sound doesn’t provide much dramatic variety to a score that narrates more than it dramatizes. As the chorus sings more ditties about the passage of time and tide, and as the Button moves inexorably toward his final hole, you may find yourself counting the minutes until the jig is up.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Public Theater (Off Broadway). Book by Jethro Compton. Music by Darren Clark. Lyrics by Compton and Clark. Directed by Compton. With Andrew Durand, Kelsee Kimmel, Morgan Morse, Brandon J. Ellis. Running time: 2hrs 30mins. One intermission.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button | Photograph: Courtesy Joan Marcus
Follow Adam Feldman on X: @FeldmanAdam
Follow Adam Feldman on Bluesky: @FeldmanAdam
Follow Adam Feldman on Threads: @adfeldman
Watch Time Out’s theater podcast on YouTube: Sitting Ovations
Follow Time Out Theater on X: @TimeOutTheater
Keep up with the latest news and reviews on our Time Out Theater Facebook page
