For a play that took place largely on a cross-country trip on a Greyhound bus, "Violet" never really got out of first gear.

The story of the disfigured young girl from North Carolina opened at the Skylight over the weekend in the hopes of kicking off a memorable 58th season. Unfortunately, this musical, the object of swarming praise on Broadway when Sutton Foster starred, comes up as an empty two-hour bus ride without a bathroom break.

The problem here is that the entire show is played at a single level. It starts at one emotional point and stays there until the end with everything in between unsurprising and almost trite.

Violet grew up in the Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina, and when she was 12, she was scarred when the axe her father was using to chop wood with flew off the handle, cutting her face.

The scar was not only on her face, but also in her soul. She branded herself ugly, and that brand gave her a reason both to be left alone and to stay alone. The audience never sees an actual scar on the face and is instead asked to imagine the fracture in her skin.

Desperation drives Violet, played by the lovely-voiced Allie Babich, on a trip to Tulsa to see a televangelist who heals the afflicted each week on his program. She has grasped onto this trip as her final chance at a normal life for a young girl. She has visions of movie star beauty staring back from her mirror as a life changing experience.

Along the way, Violet befriends two soldiers on their way to Ft. Smith in Arkansas. Monty, played by Alex Mace, is a white corporal; Flick, played by Lamar Jefferson, is a black staff sergeant. A drunken overnight stop in Memphis ends with Monty and Violet spending what both think is a one-nighter, and the next day, she says goodbye to both soldiers and it’s off to Tulsa and her date with destiny.

As anyone could predict, the meeting does not go well. The preacher, played with wonderful skill and intelligence by Rick Pendzich, is not all he seems to be, of course. It’s no surprise that he doesn’t really heal, and it’s also no surprise that Violet leaves thinking that she is now pretty. She returns to Fort Sill to show her soldier boys, comes face to face with Monty to discover the truth and ends up feeling her inside beauty.

There is a germ of a story here, but this production is just too flat from start to finish.

There should be pain for Violet when we meet her. Instead, she just comes off as kind of an angry and petulant girl. We see her both as a young woman and in flashbacks as a young girl, played by KyLee Hennes. Babich needed to set an emotional place from which the journey can move.

The problem is that her story never grabbed onto any surprises or provided the kind of ups and downs that great stories require. There is no change in the rhythm of the show. In addition, the music doesn’t startle or amuse or create the kind rapture that music can do.

It’s hard to find fault with the cast, all of them good singers and competent actors. But something about the whole thing just doesn’t move us along any special path.

A number of people walked out during the intermission, and the empty seats were obvious. In addition, I didn’t hear anybody whistling a tune after the show ended.

Those are not good omens for a production that promises a great trip but delivers only a brief detour to a roadside rest stop.

"Violet" runs through Oct. 16 and information on showtimes and tickets is available here. 

Production Credits: Director, Sheri Williams Pannell; Music Director Anne Van Deusen; Scenic Design, Adam Stoner; Costume Design, Karin Simonson Kopischke; Lighting Design, Phil Cruise Warren; Choreography, Krislyn World; Sound Design, Chris Guse; Stage Manager, Daniel J Hanson.