EDMONTON - In the first scene of The Three Musketeers, D’Artagnan, eager young would-be musketeer, gets some parting counsel from his dad before he leaves the sticks for the big city. “He who hesitates, in a second loses out on his destiny.”

This lavish, hyperkinetic Citadel première of Tom Wood’s new adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’s convoluted 19th century novel follows dad’s advice religiously. It leaves no swash unbuckled or ante un-upped. In three hours of breathless non-stop action, most of it armed and dangerous, it’s one swordfight after another, in every conceivable permutation — duels, small group dust-ups, out-and-out mass brawls, on every level of Leslie Frankish’s burnished and classic design.

And these are punctuated by cloak-and-dagger thrusts and whirls, virtuoso bullwhip vs. sword fights, a grand-scale production number involving swords and muskets. It’s equal opportunity impaling: Two women have a knock-down wrestle that will jar your molars, before one of them grabs a sword. And it’s not ageist: Even D’Artagnan and his dad go a vigorous practice round. It’s all choreographed, and with unfailing invention, by fight director Paul Gelineau and Phillip Nero, for a spirited, agile cast that never stops catapulting across, up and down, off and on, the stage, sometimes at the expense of their moustaches. Let’s just say no one is sitting around brooding in 17th century France.

In a year when an actress got an Oscar for strapping on pointe shoes and actually doing some of her own ballet dancing, a full-bodied live adventure with no stunt doubles is an achievement to be reckoned with. This is a show where getting tortured on the rack is actually a breather. Our first sight of the treacherous Cardinal Richelieu, played with acid wit by Wood himself, is something of a relief, since he stands still and doesn’t shout.

Under the banner of manly “all for one, one for all” bravado, Dumas has bequeathed the world, and this production, a lengthy and exhausting plot crammed with betrayals and reversals, political intrigue, love at first sight, secret identities, incriminating scars, letters lost and found, rings exchanged, etc. etc. that feels epic in length, but not epic in shape or resolution. Whether you will care about the story, after a while, is open to question.

Director Bob Baker propels us through it at a great rate for three hours. Speed is of the essence, as everyone keeps saying, and everyone is probably right. But the distance between being mesmerized and being dazed isn’t all that far, in the end. And musketeers can be very tiring company, for all their bonhomie.

Not that the casting (from both veterans and the Citadel/Banff young professionals program) isn’t apt. You get vivid glimpses of individual musketeer personalities, led by a fine performance from Eric Morin as the dauntless young D’Artagnan, an innocent and loose cannon out in the big, bad world. Ashley Wright is particularly amusing as the touchy bon vivant Porthos, a man of panache bickering amiably with Justin Sproule as the ex-priest Aramis. Kris Joseph is striking as well-spoken, mysteriously sorrowful Athos.

Melissa MacPherson is a fetchingly duplicitous Milady de Winter; she even negotiates the bits where she has to explain the plotting to whomever she’s with. Jeremy Crittenden as D’Artagnan’s scruffy valet makes a strong impression in a small role. The king is played by Adrian Proszowski as a cartoon ninny, which saves time and adds humour.

But some of the wit of Wood’s adaptation is lost in the rush. “If you value your remaining eye, keep it on the queen,” Richelieu advises the snarly hothead Rochefort (David Leyshon). “Did you press her?” wonders the cardinal about a key witness. “Literally,” declares Milady. “Under a cart.” Under the circumstances, conventional declarations of passion don’t stick; they can’t breathe.

Attention, the resources of a major theatre, and Baker’s expert stagecraft have been lavished on scene after scene. Frankish’s costumes are a gorgeous explosion of ruffs and cuffs. Michael Walton bathes the court and Paris attics in wonderful shafts of smoky candlelight. Baker’s staging of a long and frantic horseback journey, broken by thugs of some kind, is theatrical ingenuity itself.

In the end, though, it all feels a little relentless. With intensity and volume, as with action, the law of diminishing returns takes precedence over the king’s edict against brawling. The latter is easily dispensed with, the former not so much.

lnicholls@edmontonjournal.com

Theatre review

The Three Musketeers

Theatre: Citadel Maclab

Adapted by: Tom Wood

Directed by: Bob Baker

Starring: Eric Morin, Ashley Wright, Kris Joseph, Justin Sproule, Melissa MacPherson, Tom Wood

Running: through April 24

Tickets: 780-425-1820 or citadeltheatre.com