‘Orpheus Descending’ throbs with sensuality

Those who have followed the career of the legendary Tennessee Williams more than likely date his playwriting genesis from the mid-1940s Broadway production of “The Glass Menagerie.” But his first professionally produced play, “Band of Angels,” arrived in 1944 to largely negative reviews. It was so bad someone literally burned down the theater.

Following the stunning success of “The Glass Menagerie” and “A Streetcar Named Desire,” Williams returned to “Band of Angels” and created an extensively revised version titled “Orpheus Descending.” Hollywood, meanwhile, was putting its own stamp on the play with a forgettable Marlon Brando movie called “The Fugitive Kind.”

Williams’ fervent dedication to his earliest project is paying off for audiences at UC Irvine, where “Orpheus Descending” is receiving a superior production, throbbing with intensity and the playwright’s familiar themes of lust and loneliness. Sensuality pervades the atmosphere like the sticky humidity of a summer in the South.

Director Amanda McRaven shows her affection for this story through an unflagging attention to detail. Major characters are amplified through some indelible performances, and minor figures catch and hold the audience as well in a this captivating ensemble performance.

Benjamin Mathes is perfectly cast as the intriguing drifter who arrives in town, guitar in hand and little in his pocket, and accelerates the pace of three female hearts. With an economy of words and gestures, Mathes dominates the stage like a new rooster in the henhouse, carefully choosing his mate.

As the wife of a terminally ill store owner who hires the newcomer to help out, Kyra Zagorsky beautifully presents a picture of cool repose ? until a figure from her past ignites the dormant passion within her. Laura A. Simms offers a lustrous performance as the sheriff’s wife, a religious zealot who has visions and whose presence is life-threatening to Mathes’ character.

The most memorable portrayal, however, comes from Christa Mathis as the town tart out to capture Mathes’ attention with her physical allure ? as she does that of virtually every male audience member in the theater. Mathis turns up the heat on her unhinged sexpot character, avoiding stereotype while projecting Williams’ recurring theme of need and desire.

Jake Dogias ominously enacts Zagorsky’s down-but-not-out husband, who refuses to concede control of her life, even on his deathbed. Sean Spann forms his familiar small-town sheriff character into a more erudite version, while Jovoni Lewis is the show’s atmospheric queen as a vibrant “conjure woman.” Will Brode and Jeff Newman are as mean a pair of rednecks as you’re likely to find on stage. Their chattering wives are deliciously enacted by Karyn Lawrence and Maggie Williams, whose disruptive presence underscores the frustration that pervades Williams’ play.

Heringer and Dan Byers comprise an effective two-man orchestra as they perform musical director Andrew Heringer’s stirring and ever-present rhythmic accompaniment. Robin Watson’s richly varnished setting and Margaret Foss’ splendid costumes (particularly Mathis’ tattered brevity of a dress) further enhance the already roiling atmosphere.

“Orpheus Descending” is director McRaven’s ambitious attempt to take Williams’ often-maligned story and, finally, get it right. This mission is accomplished superbly.