Based on the story of "Tarzan and the Apes" by Edgar Rice Burroughs and the Disney film 'Tarzan;" music and lyrics by Phil Collins; book by David Henry Hwang; directed by Bill Castellino; choreography by Joshua Bergasse; scenic design by Timothy R. Mackabee; costume design by Charles Schoonmaker; lighting design by David Neville; sound design by James McCartney and Josh Staines; wig and hair design Gerard Kelly; makeup design by Michael A. King; projection design by Shawn Duan; music supervisor, Keith Levenson; musical direction by Anne Shuttlesworth; flying effects provided by ZFX, Inc.; ape costume construction by Carmel Dundon; additional costume construction by Susan Slack
Cast in order of appearance:
Mother, Andrea Goss; Father, Eric Collins; Kerchak, Todd Alan Johnson; Kala, Robyn Payne; Young Tarzan, Giacomo Favazza; Terk, Christopher Messina; Leopard, Gregory Haney; Tarzan, Brian Justin Crum; Jane Porter, Andrea Goss; Professor Porter, Jay Russell; Mr. Clayton, Eric Collins; Snipes, Matthew Bauman
Performances: Now through July 24; North Shore Music Theatre, 62 Dunham Road, Beverly, MA; tickets priced from $35-$65, children 12 and under 50% off all evening performances. Box Office at 978-232-7200 or online at www.nsmt.org.
North Shore Music Theatre in Beverly, Mass., tries very hard to bring Disney's "Tarzan," the failed Broadway musical newly revised by librettist David Henry Hwang, back to life. 
Unfortunately, even this scaled-down, more intimate version, featuring two excellent performances at its center by Brian Justin Crum as Tarzan and Andrea Goss as Jane, withers and dies on the vine.
It's not for lack of talent or ingenuity that "Tarzan" disappoints. Director Bill Castellino and choreographer Joshua Bergasse have turned the North Shore stage and theater-in-the-round into a vibrant jungle gym in which cast members effortlessly vault, climb, swing and even sing upside down. The show is quite visually impressive, and for the most part actors give it their acrobatic all.
The problem is the absolutely dreadful material. Hwang, a Tony Award-winning playwright and Pulitzer Prize finalist for his poignant and sensitive drama "M. Butterfly," and a 2003 Tony Award nominee for his revised book of Rodgers & Hammerstein's "Flower Drum Song," should know better. He is capable of crafting delicate explorations of the clash of classes and cultures. We see glimpses of that sensibility here, especially in scenes where Jane gently leads Tarzan to discover his human condition, helping him understand why he has always felt different from the ape family that raised him without ever really knowing why. But too often - and too painfully - Hwang resorts to juvenile pop lingo and anachronistic puns that derail any opportunity for authenticity or sustained emotional investment.
