Southern Comfort ***

Kate Davis’s 2001 documentary of the same title is an extremely moving film about Robert Eads, a female-to-male transgender person dying, ironically, of ovarian cancer in rural Georgia, surrounded by his mostly transgender friends. Robert Dusold and Thomas Caruso have conceived the work for the stage, with music by Julianne Wick Davis and book and lyrics by Dan Collins. During his final year of life Eads (Annette O’Toole) finds true love with Lola Cola, (Jeff McCarthy) a tall transexual who has not yet committed to hormones or surgery. Jackson (Jeff Kuhn) is a younger F-to-M who has been friends with Robert for 10 years and regards him as his spiritual father. Sam (Donnie Cianciotto), another F-to-M transexual, and Melanie (Robin Skye), a biological woman, are a devoted couple who are also friends of Robert’s. Carly (Aneesh Sheth) is a sexy M-to-F transexual who is currently seeing Jackson. Four of the five musicians (David M. Lutken, Lizzie Hagstedt, Joel Waggoner and Elizabeth Ward Land) also sing and step into the action to play secondary characters such as Robert’s parents and Jackson’s father.  (David Morse, the pianist, does not.) Southern Comfort is the name of the annual transgender event in Atlanta that Robert and his friends regularly attend. While the book is mostlly faithful to the essentials of the film, it makes things a bit more schematic. As I am not a fan of country/bluegrass music, I did not really enjoy the score. To my ears, much of the music seemed monotonous and repetitive. The present Public Theater production features the same cast as the 2011 CAP 21 version except for Cianciotto and Sheth who are transgendered. The song list is almost identical too. The rustic set by James J. Fenton is dominated by a large tree filled with boxes of tchotchkes a la Joseph Cornell. Patricia Doherty’s costumes are spot-on. Thomas Caruso’s direction is seamless. The entire cast, especially O’Toole and McCarthy, are excellent. Although, for me, the music did not really enhance the story, it is still a moving and timely tale that I am glad will be seen by new audiences. I highly recommend renting the film too. Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes including intermission.

Man of La Mancha -- at Barrington Stage ***

To mark the 50th anniversary of its Broadway premiere, Barrington Stage (which confusingly is in Pittsfield, not Great Barrington) has mounted a revival of the Dale Wasserman (book)/Mitch Leigh (music)/Joe Darion (lyrics) musical about Don Quixote and his creator Miguel de Cervantes. Thanks largely to Richard Kiley’s rendition of “The Impossible Dream,” the show was a big hit, won five Tonys, ran for years and was twice revived, once with Kiley and once with Brian Stokes Mitchell. Aside from its three big songs, I found little to admire in the show itself. Its book seemed too contrived for my taste. That being said, this production was quite good. The enormous bilevel set by James Kronzer was outstanding. Olivera Gajic’s costumes, especially those for the knights of the mirror, were excellent. Greg Graham’s choreography and Ryan Winkles’s fight staging were terrific. In a generally strong cast, Felicia Boswell stood out as Aldonza/Dulcinea. Jeff McCarthy, as Cervantes/Don Quixote, was good, not great. Julianne Boyd’s direction was fluid. Unlike last year’s hit “On the Town” this Barrington Stage production is unlikely to make it to New York. Running time: 1 hour 50 minutes, no intermission. (Closed.)