Review: ‘Treasure Island’ offers a sword-smashing statement at CTC

What’s a kid do when his adult role models are problematic messes?

That’s one of the dilemmas that Jim Hawkins confronts in “Treasure Island,” the classic pirate story that has been brought to absorbing life at the Children’s Theatre Company.

In director Rick Dildine’s production that opened over the weekend, Jim (the gifted Truman Bednar alternates the role with Mason Yang) sees firsthand the lack of honor among buccaneers. His mentor and father figure, Long John Silver (Reed Sigmund), has interests, not friends, and would readily unalive an ally to get what he wants.

But as Hawkins, Silver and the others on the Hispaniola go about searching for buried treasure in the Caribbean, the kid maintains his integrity and principles. He ultimately triumphs in a production that’s a statement for Dildine.

Here are a few of the notable, wowing elements in “Treasure Island.”

Silver does not appear in “Treasure” until nearly 20 minutes into the show, but you can feel something ignite when the peg leg pirate stomps his cane and tells a bar habitue who has been messing with Hawkins to “leave him be.”

Sigmund gives his character the authority of one who has taken lives, commanding the stage with gravitas and power. His well-crafted performance ultimately moves from bravado to a reasoned, even introspective sincerity, drawing our sympathies.

Other notable performers include Em Adam Rosenberg as playful and cheery Squire Trelawney, Max Wojtanowicz as Doctor Livesey and José Sabillón as tap-tapping menace Blind Pew.

Dildine chose to set the seafaring mood for the show with Scottish sea shanties and ditties by Irish musician Darren Kiely (who, coincidentally, performed at the Cedar Cultural Center this past weekend).

Even as they give amplitude to meditate on the action, the Victor Zupanc-led musical numbers infuse the show with keening jollity. And the songs let the cast showcase their gifts. Keegan Robinson plays a couple of roles in the show but his best instrument is not a sword. He strums on the acoustic guitar and leads musical numbers. Matt Riehle, who plays Billy Bones and Captain Smollett, is also part of the actor-musician ensemble that includes Rosenberg shaking a tambourine. A critical element of the show, the music helps to take us away.

“Treasure” takes place on a gigantic nave of a set that marries a ship with a library. The scenography is not the only thing that’s breathtaking.

Hawkin’s journey is sparked by a book, and Dildine bookends the first act with two beautiful effects. When we first see Hawkins, he’s a picture of literal enlightenment as the opened pages of the volume that he’s reading bathe his face in light. The scene could be a scene from Harry Potter, so redolent it is of Hawkins being transported, and transporting us, by storybook magic.

Other design elements are just as evocative, including period costumes, scrims and reality-bending projections.

“Treasure Island” has perhaps the highest body count of any CTC show in the past three decades. And that’s to be expected of a story about cutthroat characters with well-earned names such as Billy Bones, Mr. Arrow, Ben Gunn and Blind Pew.

The first death is personal and shocking, as it is a knife to the throat. (The show is advised for ages 8 and up.) Afterward, Dildine wisely abstracts most of the deaths. Those shot die offstage. Others who are consumed by the sea fall dramatically away, as if they’re just heading off for a vacation dip.

Dildine has spoken of his intent to infuse music into his shows, and to lean on imagination. “Treasure” is a handsomely realized version of that promise.

He is establishing a new artistic style that departs in subtle and big ways from predecessor Peter Brosius, who had a precocious sense of play and packed his moments with as much light and levity as they could hold.

If there’s a shortcoming to “Treasure,” it’s that it takes a minute to establish its theatrical language. The story is exposition-heavy in the early going, and the cast’s approximations of a Scottish brogue is a wee bit muddy, a diction that takes a minute of ear-tuning.

When: 7 p.m. Thu.-Fri., 11 a.m. & 2 p.m. Sat., 2 p.m. Sun. Ends Oct. 19.

Where: Children’s Theatre Company, 2400 3rd Av. S., Mpls.