"Wonder of the World" a madcap journey to self-fulfillment

Zany is tricky.

In "Wonder of the World," the strenuously zany comedy by Pulitzer Prize winner David Lindsay-Abaire ("Rabbit Hole"), a screwball heroine tries to remake her life — and finds herself in a two-act sketch comedy lampooning its way toward disaster.

The ingredients are all here for an urgent meditation on contingency, coincidence and the dangers of trying to revise your past from scratch. But the writing isn't quite sharp enough to give the play's provocative ideas the punch they need.

Still, the cast of this ReAct Theatre production gives it their best.

As the lights come up, Brooklyn teacher Cass Harris (Gigi Jhong) is ditching her nice-guy husband, Kip (Zachariah Robinson). Her reason: Kip's secret sexual fetish, recently revealed, is more than she can take. But it may also be the excuse she's been looking for to hop the first bus out of town.

Her destination is Niagara Falls, and her plan is to check off a 267-item list of things she's been longing to do all her life. They include wearing a large wig, befriending a clown and telling someone about "Kip's horrifying betrayal."

By play's end she will have done a few of them — under circumstances she could scarcely have predicted or desired.

Accompanying her on her journey are an obnoxious, suicidal drunk (a suitably grating Ellen Dessler); a sweetly wistful Niagara River tour-boat captain (Richard Sloniker, sounding a welcome note of sanity amid the farce); and two bumbling, elderly sleuths (Walayn Sharples and James B. Winkler). All have secrets and/or agendas, none of which can outdo ditzy Cass' 267-point self-fulfillment mission.

Jhong tackles Cass as she's written on the page: as a woman who wants more meaning from life the same way a child wants another, bigger candy bar. But Cass' one-note petulance can only carry the satire so far — and besides, she isn't the wild card here.

That honor goes to Kerry Christianson, who plays six roles, including three waitresses at three very different theme restaurants. Christianson has a ball with the challenge, and is the highlight of the show (in the Manhattan Theatre Club's 2001 production, Amy Sedaris played this sextet).

Director David Hsieh keeps things moving but could pick up the speed even more. This is the kind of farce that should come at you so fast you can't keep track of it. Anything slower lets you see the slapdash stretches in the script.

The rag-ends of the wacky plot — the ingredients of which include a murder, a large container of peanut butter and an even larger barrel — twine together in satisfying manner at the end. But "Wonder of the World" falls short of being wondrous. This is an animated production of a semi-decent satire — no more, no less.

Michael Upchurch: mupchurch@seattletimes.com