Looking for a crowd-pleasing blockbuster? Forget Broadway — it’s all happening at the tiny Gym at Judson, which is hosting the mega-hit “Almost, Maine.”
Haven’t heard of it? You can’t be blamed if the title doesn’t ring a bell: “Almost, Maine” flopped when it opened off-Broadway in 2006.
But in between that month-long fiasco and this Transport Group revival, the show — a series of quirky, heart-warming vignettes set in the title’s wintry small town — has become a staple of teenage drama clubs. A few years ago, it even overtook “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” as the single most-produced play in American high schools.
In this production, the author of “Almost, Maine,” John Cariani, even turns up in the cast. Mind you, he’s no rookie — he started as an actor, and even netted a Tony nomination for his role as the tailor Motel in the 2004 “Fiddler on the Roof.”
Here, Cariani plays several parts, just like co-stars Kelly McAndrew, Kevin Isola and the particularly funny Donna Lynne Champlin (“Sweeney Todd,” “Working”). Under the assured direction of Jack Cummings III, they give us a gallery of droll, laconic characters who are banal and singular at the same time.
The town of Almost doesn’t actually exist — we’re informed that it’s in northern Maine, 163 miles from Bangor — but in this show, it feels real, lived-in.
And things can be tough up in an isolated, frigid burg. The retired parents of Jimmy (Cariani) moved south . . . to Vermont. “Winters there are a lot easier,” explains his ex, Sandrine (McAndrew).
Almost is the kind of place where fun involves “bowlin’. Supper at the Snowmobile Club. Coupla beers at the Moose Paddy.” And the locals we meet — working-class folks on their way to or from the mill or the repair shop — like it that way, plain and simple. Cariani looks at them with a sympathy and gentle humor that lands somewhere between Norman Rockwell and “Our Town,” minus the second’s dark undertones.
Little by little, we start seeing connections between the seemingly disparate scenes: Cariani is most interested in love and how people connect. Well, sometimes they don’t, but mostly they do — this is a fundamentally nice, optimistic show that believes in good intentions and serendipity.
What’s most interesting about “Almost, Maine” is how unabashedly unhip it is. There is no pretense of an edge here — the show offers a sweetness and decency that’s become rare at the theater. At this point, it’s a welcome breath of fresh air.