What happens to a personal object when it is lost or disappears? In life, we usually forget about it. In “The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane,” it takes on a larger meaning when a china rabbit toy of a young girl, falls into the sea, and begins its own journey. People’s Light is presenting not a simple kid’s story, but a universal tale about love and survival that is meaningful for audiences of all ages.
Some thirty-five years ago, I saw a play called “The Dining Room,” which took place in a single room over some fifteen or so generations, and we observed the style and manners of different people as they inhabited that space. Though the main character of “Edward Tulane” is an inanimate object, “The Miraculous Journey” pulls deeper at our heart strings than “Dining Room.”
Edward might not be a living creature, but he experiences the love of children and adults alike on a journey in which he is discarded or lost for months or years at a time. Whether he is at the bottom of the sea or the bottom of a trash pile, we feel his pain, both through the various narrators and through the actor, Charlie DelMarcelle, who sits beside Edward, musical instrument in hand, giving human voice to a doll with an expressionless painted face.
The adventures, which take place over a single generation, are not always joyous ones, they are portrayed by an ensemble of three actors who play about two dozen characters. While some are kind such as the hobo and his dog, others are selfish and even cruel to the china rabbit.
Dana Omar, Emily Peterson, and Reggie D. White portray the characters who handle Edward. As we learn, through DelMarcelle’s voice, what Edward is experiencing, we see the challenges, not of a doll, but of any child or adult who not only seeks love and acceptance, but provides in its very being, that love to others.
Omar, Peterson, and White do a fine job with most of the characters that they portray, but don’t nail them all. In those moments, we are reminded that we are just watching a play. But the wonderful props, costumes, and set as well as the clever musical blue grass accompaniments by all four actors, more than make up for that.
Performed without an intermission, “The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane,” is an unusual look at life from a unique perspective and will resonate with all audiences. It is also a lot of fun.