Micaela Diamond and Ruthie Ann Miles Photo by Joan Marcus

Gotta love the self-aware tongue-in-cheek remark. But honestly, that pretty much says it all. No offense to Wilder or to Ethan Lipton, who is responsible for the adaptation as well as the music and lyrics, but at just over two-and-a-half hours, including a lot of emphasis on repeatedly demonstrating how history keeps repeating itself, the sarcastic comment by the frequent fourth-wall breaking maid Sabina (Micaela Diamond) hits the nail on the head. It's Wilder but with songs. Twenty-five of them spread over three acts. And that's a lot to take in.

The addition of all these songs, an eclectic array, many with a folk, storytelling vibe, means that in adapting the Wilder play, Lipton must have cut some things, while also giving some additional punchy remarks to Sabina. But it's still the same overall design. For those who are unfamiliar, the story goes like this:

Act I. The Ice Age (actual historic timelines are to be ignored) is encroaching on the home of Mr. and Mrs. Antrobus (Shuler Hensley and Ruthie Ann Miles), daughter Gladys (Amina Faye), son Henry (Damon Daunno), and their beloved but expendable dinosaur and woolly mammoth. Biblical references suggest that Mr. and Mrs. Antrobus are Adam and Eve, especially since they have changed the name of their trouble-making son Henry from his former one, Cain. And, in case we miss the point, Mrs. Antrobus bursts into tears at the mention of a dead son named Abel. In any event, spoiler: they survive.

Act II. No more ice. We're now in Atlantic City, back before casinos at a time when everything fun was centered on the Steel Pier, diving horses, arcades, and saltwater taffy. It's the six-hundred-thousandth convention of the Ancient and Honorable Order of Mammals, to which Mr. Antrobus has been elected president. Fun on the boardwalk. A sexual dalliance. And then, boom, comes the deluge, and we are in Noah and the Ark time. Spoiler: they survive.

Act III. This time the theme is warfare. It's a seven-year-long war, to be precise; in Biblical terms, it would be referred to as the Tribulation. When Mrs. Antrobus emerges from her hidey-hole, she looks around and says: "We ruined oh so many things. But we didn't ruin everything." So, see, we worry too much. We humans will survive, though what will become of the rest of the inhabitants of Earth, not to mention the planet itself, well, maybe that awaits Act IV.

Since this is a musical, I should mention that the songs are pleasant commentaries on the action, the singing is lovely, and the orchestra lined up on both sides of the performance space is excellent. In addition to the aforementioned cast members, special kudos to the terrific banjo and guitar player Allison Ann Kelly, to Andy Grotelueschen as a singing announcer who kicks off each of the acts, and to Ally Bonino as the scary doomsayer fortuneteller.

I was quite taken with a number that comes at the end of Act I, something called "Into the Darkness." It sounds a bit like "Oh, Shenandoah" and, with the exception of one silly line (something about smelling a brisket), conveys the fear the characters feel about what seems to be a certain death as the ice creeps ever closer to the house. And because Act I contains every strength, theme, and comic outtake of the overall production and runs just under one hour, long before the cyclic nature of the tale drags us on an endless rolling chair ride, I'd have been quite content to see the evening end there. Enough is as good as a feast.