Amelia Cormack, Jed Feder, Bobby Conte and (top) Alexander Sovronsky in Copperfield! The New Musical. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

What distinguishes art from craft? Cultural bias aside, I believe the difference is this: A craftsperson, like a tradesperson, can strive toward a platonic ideal (a perfectly hooked rug, for instance), and that replication is a virtue. A glazier who makes twelve identical tumblers would be lauded, whereas a sculptor cranking out identical busts would be labeled a hack. Art demands originality. But here’s the rub: Art that deviates too significantly from what has come before risks alienating its audience. Ask Vincent van Gogh how that works out. Nowhere is this tension on display more clearly than Broadway, where economic realities keep a firm check on innovation. Copperfield! A New Musical is pushing its novelty so hard that it’s even flagged in the title. Sadly, despite some craft, there is little innovation, and the show feels lifeless, merely rehashing what has come before.

Copperfield is faithful to Charles Dickens’s memoir-cum-novel, perhaps to a fault. For those who were not assigned David Copperfield in middle school, the story follows the (many) trials and tribulations of protagonist David (Bobby Conte plays the adult version; Calvin Knegten and Henry Witcher trade off performances as young David) from birth to early adulthood: There’s his mother, Clara (Cathryn Wake), and her marriage to the awful Mr. Murdstone (Will Reynolds); David’s banishment to a Dickensian boarding school; Clara’s death, which leads to David’s servitude in a Dickensian factory (okay, I guess everything here is Dickensian); happy times with his Aunt Betsey Trotwood (Kara Mikula); his courtship of, marriage to, and the death of his first love, Dora (also Cathryn Wake); and his subsequent affair with eventual life partner Agnes (Tatiana Wechsler). There are also significant side plots involving his nanny, Peggoty (Amelia Cormack), and her family; the theatrical Micawbers; and the devious Uriah Heep (Will Reynolds redux).

Sounds like a lot for a two-and-a-half hour show? It is. Adapting Dickens’s plot-heavy novels requires significant cuts, but Jeffrey Scharf, who wrote not only book but lyrics and music, favors light trims over wholesale deletion. As a result, every element gets short shrift. What’s more, Scharf retains the peripatetic coming-of-age story’s anti-theatrical structure; David’s antagonistic relationship with his stepfather, central to the show’s first half, is resolved by intermission. Director/choreographer Gabriel Barre attempts to extend the conflict by having the actor who plays Murdstone double as second-act evildoer Uriah Heep; it doesn’t help. Much cringier double casting is Cathryn Wake, who goes from playing David’s mother to his love interest. Wake is fine in both roles, but the Freudian undertones are extremely distracting.

Dickens is hardly subtle, but the show’s clunky insistence on repeatedly, explicitly telling us the play is about David’s search for home is ridiculous. Are the actors protesting the heavy-handed direction when they deliver these lines directly to the audience? It feels like the creative team is halfheartedly addressing an executive’s note to make sure we know what the show is about. Even the novel’s famous first line is replaced by the A.I. sounding “Whether I shall be the hero of my own search for home, this tale must tell.” (I know; it’s unfair for me to complain of both the show’s fidelity to and its deviation from the novel—I am awash in contradiction.)

The lackluster book might have been saved by excellent musical numbers, but here, too, Scharf underwhelms. A few good tunes, like the jaunty “I Shake Your Hand, Sir,” or the quick courtship of David and Dora summarized in “Do-o-o-ra,” are a relief from the sometimes mundane, sometimes puzzling, mostly bland tracks that populate the show. Copperfield’s signature song, “I Am Home,” sung, then reprised, then reprised again at the end of act one, then again at the end of act two (Get it? Home? That’s our theme!), does nothing for me. Scharf’s lyrics are equally lacking in any spark.

Some performers rise above the material. Alexander Sovronsky is a pleasure to watch in each of the roles he takes on; Tatiana Wechsler does well with Agnes and Jane Murdstone. Owen Squire Smith is a convincing cad, Kara Mikula a sweet savior as Aunt Betsey, and Aaron Michael Ray is fun even when he only has one or two lines. Bobby Conte, on stage almost the entire show, frowns a lot, seemingly waiting to let loose his powerful voice. The cast also doubles as orchestra, and here they are uniformly fine, with standout solos like Jed Feder’s percussive feats and Sovronsky’s classical guitar.

There are interesting aspects of Copperfield, such as the older David’s interaction with his younger self, but the convention goes nowhere. Edward Pierce’s set, divided into two stories, should provide an endless variety of staging possibilities, but the second story is underutilized, resulting in a shrunken playing area with poor sightlines. I appreciate the lighting, designed by Jeff Croiter, with its red flashes abstractly communicating child abuse I don’t want to see on stage. And the sound, courtesy of Shannon Slaton, adds to the show. Yet big moments, like act two’s storm, lack emotional impact. Jen Caprio gives convincing period costumes, but I wish she’d been allowed to give Cathryn Wake a different outfit as Clara and Dora so David is more clearly not fantasizing about screwing his mother.

I don’t mean to come down so hard on Copperfield! A New Musical. It’s a safe, watchable, mainstream musical that brings to life one of the most beloved novels of all time (pull quote). And perhaps the lack of novelty may be less of an issue for infrequent theatergoers. But for me, by playing it safe and refusing to take any risks or make any real choices, Copperfield falls flat.