Adrien Brody on B'wy in THE FEAR of 13 Lacks Feeling

Two-time Acad. Award winning actor Adrien Brody stars on Broadway in a true story of a Nick Yarris who was wrongly sentenced to death for a murder he didn't commit and served 13 years before being exonerated.  The poignant story and talented actor would seem to ensure a captivating and emotional play.  Unfortunately, the play as mainly told by Brody feels didactic and dry.  Even Tessa Thompson as Jacki Miles, Yarris', a prison volunteer who falls in love and marries him, fails to elicit passion or credibility for their relationship.  The most emotional scene comes at the start of the play where Yarris' talks about the love between two inmates who were separated for reasons of sheer cruelty by the warden and their forbidden serenade to each other in separated cells.  From there the play is laid out in a chronological order, with events depicted in a distilled, factual manner.  The one hour and 50 minute play is performed without an intermission so as not to break any emotional resonance but the play only felt belabored and overly long.  The crime of a missed opportunity to tell the tale of a terrible travesty with one of the most talented actors around is unforgivable.  At least my time served was less than two hours and not years of unjustified confinement.