When the show begins at 7 p.m., you’re asked to leave your cell phone on and the play starts with an actor taking a selfie with the audience, you know from the get-go that “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea” is not going to be typical Sarasota theater fare. The last of the Asolo Repertory Theatre’s 2016-2017 season lineup may be based on the classic science fiction novel by French writer Jules Verne that was published in 1870, but its delivery and message are entirely 2017.
This multi-media stage adaptation by Rick Miller and Craig Francis (Miller also directs) updates Verne’s venerable adventure story about a crazed captain aboard a giant submarine. It keeps some of the novel’s important themes while adding a modern twist by touching on serious issues like the dangers of ocean pollution and human disconnection. But there’s nothing heavy-handed in the telling, with an astonishing array of video projections and special effects and a steady stream of rock ’em, sock ’em action that makes it all feel like a graphic novel come to life....
