STAGE REVIEW : ‘On the Verge’: A Benign Comedy With 3 Time-Traveling Women

The purpose of evil, offers one of the characters in Eric Overmyer’s “On the Verge, or the Geography of Yearning,” is “to thicken the plot.”

The line reflects Overmyer’s clever but superficial style. It also points to the problem with the play, which has no sense of evil, or even danger. As a result the plot just isn’t thick enough.

A fantasy about three late-19th-Century ladies who time-travel into 1955 Las Vegas, Overmyer’s play--at least as staged by Michael David Wadler at the Colony--is completely benign and frivolous. The thrills and chills provided by most time-travel stories are missing.

Wry smiles and mild chuckles are what Overmyer wants from his wordplay. Wadler’s production gets a few laughs, but the conceit seems strained over two acts.

The three ladies are carefully delineated by Barbara Beckley as the leader of the pack, Lindy Nisbet as the most prim and proper, and Sheri Galan as the youngest and most brazen, although Galan seems more comfortable with the language of 1955 than with that of 1888. They’re decked out in amusing costumes by Hilary Sloane.

Jonathan Palmer plays all of the men they meet along the way (as well as one Madame Nhu in the least successful scene in the show). His comic virtuosity is impressive, but some of his characters are clearly expendable.

Wadler’s set and video design add a measure of interest, but a few of the more abstract videos distract us from Overmyer’s words, which are the heart of this play. Vince Acosta’s sound design is helpful.

At 1944 Riverside Drive, Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 7 p.m., through June 11. Tickets: $15-$17; (213) 665-3011.