Another visit to Irving's 'Cider House' at Book-It

From the opening moments of "The Cider House Rules," in its low-tech workshop debut at the Seattle Repertory Theatre, the epic theatrical yarn was something extraordinary.

A faithful, fluid rendering of novelist John Irving's same-titled best-seller, about a rural Maine orphanage director/abortionist and the foundling he keeps and mentors, the Peter Parnell play imparted a compassionate, richly peopled Dickensian saga with essential theatrical means — a nearly bare stage, an energized acting ensemble (including, in that first 1995 airing, Ethan Hawke), folksy original music.

Staged by Book-It Repertory theater co-director Jane Jones and noted actor Tom Hulce, the play affirmed the power of great storytelling and Book-It's verbatim narrative style specifically. And the length — roughly eight hours, counting Part Two, which was unveiled the following year at the Rep — seemed fully justified.

"Cider House Rules" was a local phenomenon (which, by the way, Irving attended and heartily approved of). Then Parnell's award-winning script went on to airings in Los Angeles, Off Broadway, in Chicago and many other locales.

Now "The Cider House Rules" returns to Seattle, in its first professional run here since it last played at the Rep in 1997. For some of us, the engagement is an invitation to meet up again with characters we'd grown fond of. For others, it will be an introduction to the saga, in an intimate Book-It remounting by Jones starring Peter Crook as Dr. Larch and Connor Toms as his surrogate son, Homer.

Note, though, that this will just be Part One of "Cider House Rules." To sink into Part Two, you'll have to wait until Book-it presents it in the fall.

Misha Berson: mberson@seattletimes.com