‘Expectations’ Met

Charles Dickens’ “Great Expectations” chronicles an impoverished boy’s sudden, mysterious social elevation and how that clouds his judgment of people. Yet the novel’s most powerful image is of a woman scorned who seeks revenge upon all men.

Deborah Strang reprises her thoroughly frightening Miss Havisham in co-directors Julia Rodriguez Elliott and Geoff Elliott’s third rendition of Barbara Field’s adaptation at A Noise Within.

Half apparition, half human, Miss Havisham is dressed in a tattered wedding gown shroud. Yearning for love, she adopts young Estella and teaches her to break men’s hearts. Estella’s first victim is Pip (Todd Beadle).

Field whittled down Dickens’ novel to its barest essence, distributing the task of narration between various characters, using a sometimes annoying Greek chorus for emphasis, but not sacrificing the wit and humor.

As the young Pip, Beadle’s physique works against him. He dwarfs Stephen Rockwell as Joe Gargery. Ann Marie Lee’s young Estella is too cutesy with her high-pitched voice. But both transform convincingly into youthful snobbery and later, humbled maturity.

Except for Lee and Beadle, actors take on at least two roles, a test that this versatile company handles with great assurance. Rockwell is suitably dense but good-natured as Wemmick’s (Mitchell Edmonds) aged parent and snobbishly dislikable as the spoiled Drummle. Robertson Dean imbues the lawyer Jaggers with a sense of underlying dignity. Louis Lotorto is charming as Pip’s friend Herbert Pocket.

This production is so densely packed with wonderful moments, it’s worth seeing more than once. The nearly three hours magically whirl away.

* “Great Expectations,” A Noise Within, 234 S. Brand Blvd., Glendale. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m.; Saturdays-Sundays, 2 p.m. Ends Dec. 20. $24-$28. (818) 546-1924. Running time: 2 hours, 40 minutes.