The Pasadena Playhouse is an elegant, yet cozy venue in Spanish Colonial Revival style roughly a century old. You simply feel good just walking up the hand-laid steps to the theatre.

The set design and lighting for this production are top notch. The backlit TV-screens with departure info (complete with graffiti) really sold the train station backdrop. But that was just one layer, the stage seemed to have many layers, back, forward, up ... even a rotating platform that provided 3 additional settings. All beautifully lit. Later, to hit home the press-day event, multiple projections were employed with great success.

While the play takes place somewhere in the mid to early 1900's, occasional 21st century references and props are tossed in for color, contrast and fun. I like that choice.

This, apparently is a dark comedy (think films by Wes Anderson), or as some report, an absurdist tragicomedy. Actually, some films by Anderson I really enjoy, and others - the humor simply doesn't find purchase on any of my funny bones. Sadly, that was my experience with "The Visit." Yes, there were small chuckles here and there, enhanced by one or two nice zingers. But, the tone never resonated with me. As I was leaving I did hear some audience members praising the work, so maybe I'd just missed the larger joke.

That said, a couple of sweet affecting moments do resonate: where the leads are alone together, reminiscing in a nostalgic, even aching way, for the purer hearts of their youth and the innocence of falling in love. And the play does host some interesting discussions where the characters wrestle to reconcile justice, physical needs, ego, and conscience. I like where these dialogues were headed, but I felt that (at least in this English version) the script never let the actors strike the emotional resonance we expect from stage performances.

One last note, while the play fails at explaining the origins of two ghostlike blind men, they were marvelously eerie and mistily reminiscent of the animated film "Spirited Away."

The Pasadena Playhouse is a lovely venue in the heart of one of Southern California's coolest cities.