I saw this play in San Francisco last week. For about 10% of the play, I agree with this review. These were the scenes where the main character is overwhelmed by his environment. The innovative set pulls the audience uncomfortably into the character's experience. That was wonderful and does justice to the book.

But I didn't like the play overall, because the other 90% kept the audience comfortably outside the main character's experience. The audience chuckled in condescending empathy at each way the main character misinterpreted the world around him. They were seeing the story from outside of his perspective. He would not be chuckling. The book doesn't invite chuckling during these scenes.

There were also many scenes, especially near the end, in which characters emoted in a way that makes for a compelling drama but is not at all the way the main character experiences those events in the book. Again, this is very familiar and comforting to the audience at the expense of betraying the point of the book.

I'm not sure how the writers could have portrayed the play as the book does, from the main character's perspective. But that's what they needed to do, and they failed for the bulk of the play.

None of this is to take away from the acting. All the actors did a great job, especially Adam Langdon.