Theater

‘I Remember Mama’ revived, with a 10-pack of veteran actresses

In the Transport Group’s new revival of “I Remember Mama,” 10 time-tested actresses — ages 67 to 82 — play all 23 characters, including the men and small boys.

But as good as it is to see women like Barbara Barrie and Heather MacRae onstage again, the concept is more distracting than illuminating.

John Van Druten’s classic featured a very young Marlon Brando when it opened in 1944, but aside from a short-lived 1979 musical adaptation, it hasn’t received a major New York production since. What’s the point of giving a wild new spin to a play few have actually seen?

Jack Cummings III has staged this, like several other productions (“Lysistrata Jones”), at the vast expanse of the Gym at Judson. Here, his set features 10 dining room tables — one for each actress — laden with dishes, silverware, books and bric-a-brac.

The play is based on Kathryn Forbes’ beautifully written autobiographical novel, “Mama’s Bank Account,” about a Norwegian immigrant family living in San Francisco at the turn of the 20th century. It’s a credit to the terrific cast — Rita Gardner (of the original “The Fantasticks”) among them — that they manage to convey its essence, even as we struggle to suspend our disbelief over the casting of Phyllis Somerville as the young girl, Dagmar, Lynn Cohen as the family’s impoverished tenant, Mr. Hyde, and Dale Soules as the family patriarch. That most of the performers play multiple roles and are clad in casual modern dress only adds to the confusion.

Metatheatrical touches abound: One actress mimics the sounds of a dying cat, and several others respond with indignation to a scene they’re not even in. With the audience seated on four sides of the playing area, much of the action inevitably takes place at a distance, and the overhead lighting doesn’t provide much visual texture.

It would be one thing to say that this is not the “I Remember Mama” you remember, except that there are not many left who do.