Climate Change, the Musical

Actors in the Civilians’ “The Great Immensity” at the Public Theater.Credit Brian Harkin for The New York Times

Climate Change, the Musical
CHARLES ISHERWOOD, APRIL 16, 2014 

Steve Cosson and Michael Friedman had a highbrow hit in the fall collaborating on Anne Washburn’s “Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play.” They are reunited for the latest production from the inventive, inquisitive theater troupe the Civilians, in residence at the Public Theater as part of the low-price, low-frills Public Lab series. “The Great Immensity,” written and directed by Mr. Cosson with songs by Mr. Friedman, asks the big-time question of whether man can change his destructive ways before the planet goes kablooey.

Although past Civilians shows have tackled socially significant themes, this sounds like a departure, at least in form. The company doesn’t usually favor linear narrative, but “The Great Immensity” is intriguingly described as “a continent-hopping thriller” about a woman trying to find out what happened to a friend who disappeared from a tropical island while on assignment for a television show. She uncovers a plot related to an international climate conference. 

(Opens April 24 at the Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place, East Village; 212-967-7555,