Sometimes it takes an outside perspective to breathe fresh life into a familiar story. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, a new musical from the British duo Jethro Compton (book and lyrics) and Darren Clark (music and lyrics), takes the rudiments of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1922 short story, borrows the 20th-century timeline of David Fincher’s 2008 movie adaptation, and transposes the entire narrative to a Cornish fishing village with a stewpot brimming with quirky local characters.
At the center of the yarn is Benjamin Button, the boy who is mysteriously born in the body of an old man and ages backward until he can pass away as an apparent newborn in his crib. Andrew Durand, who memorably played a corpse in Dead Outlaw and most recently the square-turned-horndog Brad in The Rocky Horror Show, captures the gravelly decrepitude of the “young” Benjamin in both his posture and his initially tremulous voice. And then we watch as he matures into a regular guy, with a solid baritone, before assuming the youthful bounciness of a Benjamin reaching warped senescence.
Around Benjamin, Compton and Clark have created an ensemble of memorable personalities played by a versatile and talented cast that also doubles as the onstage orchestra. We meet Benjamin’s mother (Sachiko Mae), who can’t endure life after giving birth to a “monster;” his father (Brandon J. Ellis), who wants to kid Benjamin away from society forever; his sailing and WWII buddy Jack (a convincing Morgan Morse), a dim-witted but sweet-natured fellow; and of course his beloved, Elowen Keene (Kelsee Kimmel), the barmaid and midwife’s daughter who finds herself drawn to this shy but mature-looking man — and endures their many separations by both happenstance and design.
Compton, who also directs, uses his new coastal English setting to ruminate on bigger questions about making the most out of “a little bit of life,” as Durand’s Benjamin sings in his ebullient Act 1 “I wish” solo. There are layers and metaphors that are brand new to this version of the material, like our hero’s fixation on the possibility that humans might one day walk on the moon — the basis for a sweet duet with Kimmel’s Elowen, “The Moon and the Sea,” where the two test the waters of a connection between improbable lovers. Wondering what the sea might say to the moon, she croons, “Per’aps she’d sing, ‘Stop all your glowin’, you’re shinin’ too bright / an’ the light from your face keep me up every night'” — but then immediately adds “Or maybe her teasin’ is hidin’ her heart?”
The rootsy, Celtic- and folk-accented tunes sound terrific, especially as performed by the 11 actors on instruments that include mandolin, accordion, pennywhistle, and tambourine. Over two and half hours, though, the collection of ballads and uptempo numbers occasionally blur together with their similar vocal runs and instrumentation choices. (There are 23 songs in all, including nine reprises.) Compton’s staging also can exaggerate the effect, since he has a tendency to group his actor-musicians in semicircles or tenpin-like clumps around the stage. As with Merrily We Roll Along, another backwards-running musical, the show sometimes struggles to maintain a strong narrative momentum when the audience knows where things are heading for a hero stuck in reverse. That’s particularly true in the second act, where there can be more telling than showing.
But Durand and Kimmel are such an infectiously appealing onstage couple that it’s hard not to root for whatever version of a happy ending they can muster for themselves. Plus, the production brims with an old-fashioned craftsmanship, from Compton’s wood- and fishnet-lined sets to Anna Kelsey’s costumes to Zoe Spurr’s lighting (which mesmerizes in sequences set at sea and underwater). At times, you can almost smell the saltwater breezes emanating from the stage. It’s no wonder the show took home the 2025 Olivier Award for best new musical; a Broadway berth seems inevitable (especially since Broadway theater owner ATG is a producer of the trial run at the Public Theater). In the meantime, it’s worth cherishing The Curious Case of Benjamin Button as a British spin on a very American story about making the most of unfortunate circumstances. ★★★★☆
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
Public Theater, Off Broadway
Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes (with one intermission)
Tickets on sale through December 6 for $149