THEATER REVIEW : ‘To Culebra’: Colony’s Play Can’t Bridge Expansive Gulf

Ferdinand de Lesseps believed he could slice through isthmuses and unite oceans. He did it at Suez. Why not in Panama?

In the wake of the L.A. earthquake, De Lesseps’ hubris seems especially audacious. It apparently seemed stage-worthy, too, to playwright Jonathan Bolt.

His “To Culebra� dramatizes De Lesseps’ attempt to cross Panama with a sea-level canal in the 1880s. He refused to build locks; he thought they would become obsolete with advances in shipping. Instead, he simply planned to level all obstacles in his path.

He failed--miserably. In the process, thousands died from tropical diseases, investors’ savings were lost, a government fell. Yes, there was even an earthquake. Charles de Lesseps, Ferdinand’s son and partner, was finally jailed for his role in the scheme.

It’s fascinating material, but Bolt’s play doesn’t do it justice. Framed as a flashback from the trials at the end of the saga, most of the scenes depict people arguing with one another in French drawing rooms. Maps roll down from above to show us the geography of Panama, but there is very little sense of actually being there, even when a scene is set there.

The story is better suited for a book (David McCullough’s celebrated “The Path Between the Seas� is the most obvious), where the writer can go into greater detail, or on the screen, where we could glimpse the big picture. Here it’s at the 99-seat Colony.

A playwright might have compensated for some of these shortcomings by presenting a satirical edge or some other personal perspective on the events. But Bolt’s attitude is fairly fuzzy.

William Dennis Hunt captures De Lesseps’ fire and force (though not quite all of his words), but the role is too incessantly noisy to sustain maximum impact throughout. Todd Nielsen is superb as the son who’s always in his father’s shadow. Tom Shea and Chris Van Vleet register briefly as young, ambitious assistants in De Lesseps’ boondoggle. The other actors are limited to stock characterizations.

Director Michael David Wadler has been unable to transform this series of animated museum dioramas into anything more dynamic.

* “To Culebra,� Colony Studio Theatre, 1944 Riverside Drive, Los Angeles. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Ends April 3. $18-$20. (213) 665-3011. Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes.