DYLAN'S SONGS DOMINATE IN MUSICAL 'TIMES'.

Byline: Evan Henerson Theater Critic

THERE'S NO LAW, written or otherwise, that says a person should avoid setting poetry to dance steps or vice versa. And certainly, when you're a choreographer of the caliber of Twyla Tharp, you establish whatever rules you want and then break them at will.

Tharp has set original compositions to the music of David Byrne, the Beach Boys and - most recently - Billy Joel, whose music served as the inspiration for the triumphant ``Movin' Out.'' For her most recent musical theater oddity, ``The Times They Are A-Changin','' Tharp has partnered with no less a person than rock/folk icon Bob Dylan.

It's an intriguing choice resulting in a very cool show and, curiously, a rather self-effacing endeavor that seems to bear little stamp of its creator/director. And for one peculiarly basic reason: at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre, where ``The Times'' is in its world premiere, the music so significantly trumps the movement that you wonder why Tharp took an interest in Dylan in the first place.

Love the man or hate him, Dylan's abilities as a poet/storyteller and chronicler of an age have never been in question, and there are plenty out there who contend that Dylan's songs tend to sound better issuing from the mouths of other singers. A concert- or theater-goer could look far and wide and never come up with a young man possessed of such rock-the-house potential as Michael Arden, who belts song after song with the full confidence and assurance of a man entrusted with a valuable gift.

Arden, Jenn Colella and Thom Sesma are the three performers of ``The Times'' who have specific roles within the narrative structure that Tharp - through Dylan's music - has established. All three performers can certainly move, none with outstanding grace or finesse. Nor do they need to, since they're singers primarily.

The remaining seven players - six men and one woman - portray a bunch of clowns, acrobats, carnys and roustabouts in the low-rent traveling circus making up the world of the play. They cavort, gambol, bounce off trampolines, impersonate circus dogs (a clever use of the song ``Man Gave Names to all the Animals'') and occasionally wreak havoc upon the beat-up circus trailer used by Captain Arab (Sesma), the circus' despotic ringmaster. The ensemble sings here as well (in ``Movin' Out,'' all the songs were sung by a single performer), but, skilled as these performers clearly are, Tharp is using them as little more than window dressing.

Captain Arab's son Coyote (Arden) is looking to break free of the whip-cracking tyrant, despite the fact that Coyote is reminded that he's ``Gotta Serve Somebody.'' The same applies to animal trainer Cleo (Colella), the captain's mistress, beloved by Coyote. As played by Sesma (who replaced Paul Kandel late in rehearsals), Captain Arab is a glowering, wild-haired madman who bears a small physical resemblance to the composer himself.

There are nearly 30 Dylan songs packed into 90 minutes of performance. The arrangements by Michael Dansicker play largely to his singers' strengths and the band, perched on a pile of clutter, plays with great force and brio. And, as mentioned, Tharp isn't looking to let anything get in the way of appreciating the words. If this means Arden is to deliver ``Mr. Tambourine Man'' from his perch atop a light bulb-illuminated moon, then so be it.

Credit Tharp, certainly, for staying out of the way. She wants Dylan - through his music - to express himself. Still, you can't help wondering occasionally what ``The Times'' might have looked like had the fusion between music and movement been less one-sided.

Evan Henerson, [phone]

evan.henerson(at)dailynews.com

THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN' - Three and one half stars

Where: Old Globe Theatre, 1363 Old Globe Way, San Diego.

When: 7 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday; 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday; 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday; through March 19.

Tickets: $47 to $80. Call [phone].

In a nutshell: Bob Dylan's music, which sounds great, tends to overwhelm rather than enhance Twyla Tharp's choreography.

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

Jenn Colella and Michael Arden are two of the performers who sing and dance their way through the music of Bob Dylan in ``The Times They Are A-Changin','' at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego.