Rogue's 'If On A Winter's Night A Traveler' funny, whimsy and touching

So, I tried to read Italo Calvino’s novel “If On A Winter’s Night A Traveler.”

It was too disjointed. I gave up.

Happily, The Rogue Theatre did not give up on it. Its stage adaptation is funny, whimsical and touching. And it was not disjointed.

Reader, played with relish by Ryan Parker Knox, is reading the first chapter of a book and just as he gets into the story he finds an error that stops him cold. Hunting down the source of the error he runs into Ludmilla (a saucy Bryn Booth), who is reading the same book and finds the same error.

They start another book, and another and another. Each has something off about them, which stops them and sends them on more journeys to figure out what is going on. Reader and Ludmilla come together between books to discuss the weirdness of it all and to share discoveries.

The Rogue’s troupe of actors act out the first chapter of each book being read. There are different genres, such as mystery, science fiction and a Western, and it is a complete hoot to watch them transform themselves and act out these wholly incomplete stories.

Of course, when the two aren’t reading, they begin to fall in love, which has its own complications. They also find they are on the trail of an international book fraud scheme.

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Christopher Johnson is Il Maestro, a daunting character who serves as a narrator and guide to Reader. He is impressive on stage and we find him there too infrequently.

Cynthia Meir’s direction is smooth, with an eye toward clarity and humor.

And the Joseph McGrath-designed set is a book lover’s dream. There are piles of books all around the stage, haphazardly stacked on one another and spilling out of bookcases. One just wants to climb onstage and curl up with a book.

The Rogue always includes music in its productions. Music director Russell Ronnebaum, who composed some of the works in this play, made the music another character, punctuating and illuminating the action on stage.

This John Capecci adaptation is spirited and quirky. Just as one imagines Calvino’s book is. And it’s convinced me to pick it up again and read it all the way through.

“If On A Winter’s Night A Traveler” is at The Rogue Theatre, 300 E. University Blvd., through Nov. 24. Tickets are $47 at 520-551-2053 or theroguetheatre.org. The play runs about two hours with one intermission.

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