By Celia Wren
Special to The Washington Post
Saturday, July 5, 2008

Washington area librarians may want to make a pilgrimage to Bethesda: "The Neverending Story," the handsome fable currently on view at Imagination Stage, is a paean to the old-fashioned joys of reading. Monsters and mysterious spells abound in this colorful children's production -- billed as the first-ever English-language dramatization of Michael Ende's beloved book -- but playwright David S. Craig and director Janet Stanford make it clear that the most potent enchantment resides in ink, paper and binding.

Commissioned by Imagination Stage and Seattle Children's Theatre, the play retells the first half of Ende's fantasy, chronicling the adventures of the young hero Atreyu (Andrew Sonntag) as he voyages through the magical land of Fantastica, in search of a cure for the ailing Childlike Empress (Mollie Clement). When a real-world boy named Bastian (Michael Nguyen-Mason) reads about the quest in an enthralling book, he becomes an active player in Fantastica's fate. (The popular 1984 film "The Neverending Story" dealt with the same material.)

Standing in for Fantastica in Bethesda is an imposing metaphorical set by Dan Conway: the facade of a ziggurat, looming over a floor painted with a red-and-yellow compass rose, such as you might see on a map. Numerous trapdoors facilitate magical comings and goings -- the tragic death of Atreyu's noble horse Artax (Max Lawrence) in the Swamps of Sadness, for instance. Deborah Wheatley's backdrop projections (silhouetted mountains, the lavender gleam of a ghostly buffalo) elaborate other features of the talismanic kingdom, while composer Fahir Atakoglu's orchestral underscorings hint at epic energies and Bierstadt-worthy grandeur.

But the linchpin of the production is the puppetry, designed by Eric Van Wyk. ("The Lion King" may be doing blockbuster business at the Kennedy Center, but Julie Taymor has no monopoly on mask-and-manikin virtuosity.) Whether it's a hand puppet portraying an excitable sprite, waltzing blue marionettes representing Wind Giants, or simply a well-coordinated team of performers wielding hairy staffs to suggest a mammoth spider's legs, the stagecraft is pithy and fetching (as well as stirringly lighted by designer Jason Arnold). Kathleen Geldard's bright, fanciful costumes further emphasize Fantastica's exoticism.

But the pageantry is on an intimate scale, leaving room for the very serviceable performances. Nguyen-Mason (a student at Walt Whitman High School) suggests the vulnerability of the lonely Bastian; Clement, also a school-age performer, cuts a radiant profile as the Empress. Sonntag swashbuckles competently through Atreyu's escapades, and Michael John Casey -- who dons a peach-colored outfit, with drapery claws, for his turn as the Luck Dragon, Falkor -- is suitably crotchety as the bow-tie-wearing Bookseller. Anu Yadav, who provides fine interpretations of several roles, is particularly compelling in a scene depicting a spat between a fairy and a witch: The actress plays both characters (the fairy is a puppet), a deft feat.

All these quirky personalities and wizardly happenings owe their existence to the printed page, Stanford and her colleagues remind us. The ziggurat that anchors the set is clearly inscribed with lines of text. The Bookseller presides over a desk whose vertical supports are stacks of tomes. And the character of Bastian remains visible throughout the show -- perched on a balcony on the side, seemingly engrossed in a huge volume. In a world of iPhones and YouTube, this production pays artful tribute to the technological achievements of Gutenberg.

The Neverending Story, adapted by David S. Craig from Michael Ende's novel. Directed by Janet Stanford; prop designs, Andrea "Dre" Moore; sound design, Fahir Atakoglu; movement consultant, Leslie Felbain. With Julie Garner, Carl Randolph, Mark R. Ross. Recommended for ages 6 and up. About 90 minutes. Through Aug. 10 at Imagination Stage, 4908 Auburn Ave., Bethesda. Call 301-280-1660 or visit http://www.imaginationstage.org.