Book-It’s Moby Dick puts us in the weatherworn wood belly of the New England whaling trade, where adventure-thirsty Ishmael talks his way onto Captain Ahab’s ship, unaware of the journey’s fanatical motivation. David Quicksall’s adaptation selects mostly major scenes, but leaves a sense of the book’s sprawling maw in certain borderless rambles and odd timing. The main tension is the mortal (and financial) danger to the ship’s crew, hostage to Ahab’s obsession with killing the monster that ate his leg; but except for Ishmael’s befriending of the “cannibal” harpooneer Queequeg at the beginning, we don’t see the changes and character development one would expect over the course of a long voyage. Well-staged storm and whale-killing scenes nicely break the low-energy tedium of deck life, and the musical interlude of “What Shall We Do With a Drunken Sailor” following intermission got the packed house stamping. MARGARET FRIEDMAN

Tue., Feb. 10, 7:30 p.m.; Wednesdays-Saturdays, 7:30 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Starts: Feb. 10. Continues through March 8, 2009