Children travel the universe and confront evil in First Stage's 'A Wrinkle in Time'

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

When First Stage's "A Wrinkle in Time" opens, Meg Murry (Lily Miller) is a dark and stormy teenager, grieving her missing father and wishing she were normal.

Over the next 90 minutes, she will find out just how extraordinary she is.

Madeleine L'Engle's novel, which takes readers on a spiritual journey through space-time to rescue people from evil, won the Newbery Medal in 1963 for best children's novel.

Ava DuVernay's 2018 film adaptation used elaborate CGI, but First Stage director Jeff Frank takes a low-tech approach to staging this remarkable story. Frank and company allow the power of L'Engle's words and the audience's imagination to create the spectacles.

While working on secret research about traveling faster than light through manipulating folds in space-time, Meg's father Alex (Parker Gaspar Muñoz) has gone missing. Supernatural entities Mrs. Whatsit (Matt Daniels) and Mrs. Who (Elyse Edelman) recruit Meg, her oddly brilliant little brother Charles Wallace (Abram Nelson) and goodhearted teen Calvin (Nahjee Robinson) to rescue Alex from the planet Camazotz, where is being held prisoner by an evil entity.

(First Stage productions typically double-cast the younger characters' roles; Friday's performance featured the Space cast, while some other performances feature the Time cast.)

Charles Wallace and Calvin are equipped with varying levels of ESP, but stormy, emotional Meg is told her faults are the source of her power.

Matt Daniels, Elyse Edelman and Parker Gaspar Muñoz play three remarkable beings in First Stage's "A Wrinkle in Time"

Ensemble members dressed completely in black serve as stagehands, extras and, occasionally, puppeteers. Director Frank also gives many of them lines of narration.

First Stage recommends this production for children 8 years and older, and it works just fine as a family-centered adventure story for children that age.

But it has much to offer adults, too, alluding to or evoking C.S. Lewis, "The Wizard of Oz," "Macbeth" and "Donovan's Brain," and weaving concepts generated by quantum physics into the story. L'Engle was a Christian, and that's evident here, too, though not in a preachy way.

Miller gets Meg's restlessness and Robinson brings natural warmth to Calvin. I was particularly taken with Nelson as Charles Wallace, who brings a touch of fiendish glee to scenes where his mind is controlled by the evil entity.

My hope is that people who see this production will turn to L'Engle's five novels about the Murry family, which continue their remarkable adventures.

Contact Jim Higgins at jim.higgins@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @jhiggy.

If you go

First Stage's "A Wrinkle in Time" runs through Feb. 23 in Todd Wehr Theater at the Marcus Performing Arts Center, 929 N. Water St. Visit firststage.org or call (414) 267-2961.