Style surpasses substance in Drury Lane’s visually arresting ‘Da Vinci Code’
“The Da Vinci Code” — 2.5 stars
Drury Lane Theatre’s regional premiere of “The Da Vinci Code” has a lot of style.
Scott Penner’s minimalist, columnar set with its gilded frame (entirely appropriate given the play’s emphasis on Leonardo Da Vinci masterworks); Lee Fiskness’ incorporation of elongated shards of light and piercing neon accents; and Anthony Churchill and Mike Tutaj’s evocative projections, which include striking, fragmented images of the “Mona Lisa,” combine for a crisp, moody design.
The problem is the production’s style exceeds the play’s substance.
Adapted by Rachel Wagstaff and Duncan Abel from Dan Brown’s bestselling 2003 mystery thriller (which also inspired the hit 2006 film starring Tom Hanks), the talky, excessively plotty and overly long script consists mostly of exposition and recapitulation, punctuated by a couple of armed standoffs and a half-hearted chase or two.
For all its gunplay, double crosses and subterfuge, this thriller isn’t all that thrilling.
The story centers on Harvard University professor Robert Langdon (Jeff Parker), an expert in religious symbols, who Paris police enlist to decipher the clues left behind by murdered Louvre Museum curator Jacques Sauniere (Ray Frewen) as to his killer’s identity. Assisting Langdon is Sophie Neveu (Vaneh Assadourian), a police cryptographer and, unbeknownst to her colleagues, Jacques’ granddaughter.
They seek out Sir Leigh Teabing (Bradley Armacost, who appeared to be having a jolly time at the Saturday performance I attended), an eccentric billionaire obsessed with finding the Holy Grail. He tells them about the purported marriage between Jesus and Mary Magdalene, the birth of their child and the desperate attempts by organized religion’s hierarchy to keep it secret. To that end, an unseen character named Teacher manipulates Silas (Shane Kenyon), a troubled member of the Catholic organization Opus Dei, into murder, seemingly to preserve Christianity’s core beliefs.
Criticism of the Catholic church's patriarchy, the marginalization of women and the rejection of sacred feminism also figure into the drama, but it's relatively understated. I can't speak to the book or film, but the stage version of “The Da Vinci Code” seems less interested in transforming audience members' religious beliefs than in titillating them with a dizzying number of cultural, religious and scientific references. The Fibonacci sequence (where each element is the sum of the two elements preceding it), the Holy Grail, architect Christopher Wren, Isaac Newton, poet Alexander Pope and, of course, Da Vinci figure in the story.
Directed by Elizabeth Margolius, Drury Lane's production is solidly acted and visually impressive. But I found some of Margolius' staging self-conscious.
Throughout the play, video projections suggest Robert and Sophie are being tracked by some shadowy organization with wide-ranging surveillance capabilities. Margolius extends that suggestion beyond the footlights and into the house through pre-curtain and post-intermission announcements informing audience members they are under surveillance and should not be alarmed. Along with the announcements, projections show what appear to be closed circuit television projections of the Drury Lane's lobby.
It may have been an attempt to heighten tension, but it struck me as unnecessarily distracting and too clever by half.
••••
Location: Drury Lane Theatre, 100 Drury Lane, Oakbrook Terrace, (630) 530-0111, drurylanetheatre.com
Showtimes: 1:30 p.m. Wednesday; 1:30 and 7 p.m. Thursday; 7 p.m. Friday; 3 and 8 p.m. Saturday; and 2 and 6 p.m. Sunday, through June 1
Tickets: $75-$150; dinner-theater packages available
Running time: About 2 hours, 30 minutes, with intermission
Parking: Free in the adjacent lot
Rating: For teens and older, brief references to mature subjects, violence, gunshots