Sometimes “important” stories lose their effectiveness no matter how many times we are reminded of why they are so. But then there are works that transcend redundancy and endure even bad iterations. What a nice surprise, then, when a fresh adaptation of a stalwart original receives a remarkable production with an incredible cast and crew. WaterTower Theatre’s The Diary of Anne Frank by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, and adapted by Wendy Kesselman makes a crucial play come alive.

The tremendous and necessary impact of the publication of Anne Frank’s diary (1947), Pulitzer Prize-winning stage play (1955), and Academy Award-winning movie adaptation (1959) are well-documented and have spawned countless interpretations. Kesselman’s 1997 humanizing adaptation uses unpublished diary entries and new evidence to present a more complete and honest picture of young teen struggling with her confinement and burgeoning maturation. Kudos to director Terry Martin and his creative team for taking the source material and adaptation to even new heights of heart-warming, braking excellence. They have crafted a transfixing and utterly moving piece of art that contains much pathos, yet is really a beautiful story about an incredible life.

The action begins in Amsterdam in 1942 with the Frank and Van Daan families moving into a secret annex to avoid the Nazis. The occupants in the cramped living space are Mr. and Mrs. Frank (Stan Graner and Emily Scott Banks), their two daughters, Anne and Margot (Molly Franco and Jessica Renee Russell), Mr. and Mrs. Van Daan (Paul Taylor and Lucia Welch), and their son, Peter (Travis Tope). A dentist, Mr. Dussel (Ted Wold) is a late addition.  A good Christian soul, Miep Gies (Dana Schultes in a lovely performance) brings them food, supplies, and news from the outside.

What happens in these tiny quarters (intricately rendered levels and period furnishings by Clare Floyd DeVries and Georgana Jinks) to these people, particularly Anne as the central figure and narrating voice, and how they deal with waiting and hiding is the real play.

Franco as the “quicksilver Anne” is an exuberant and irrepressible girl who simultaneously annoys her housemates (complete with door-slamming teen angst) and reminds them of the joy and promise of youth (providing thoughtful homemade Hanukkah presents to everyone). Franco is totally believable as a charming, if exhausting, young girl. She has a tremulous, bubbly spark in her voice, and makes statements like, “I feel spring awakening inside of me” with complete earnestness.

Russell (hilarious in WingSpan’s The Importance of Being Earnest) is the courteous, “good” Frank daughter. She is quiet, sad, and lonely, and of all the inhabitants, she is the one with nobody of her own.  Tope is the reluctant Peter, the object of Anne’s soaring ardor. He is charming in a shy and retiring way that leads into lingering gestures and glances as his relationship with Anne matures.

Banks plays the Frank matriarch with a restrained, yet intense sadness both over her family’s predicament and her deteriorating bond with Anne. Graner, her husband, is the ultimate peacemaking conscience of the house. His performance stands out as a bit unnatural and actorly at times, but it is not enough to take away from the overall excellence of the ensemble.

Wold and Taylor embody two similarly cranky curmudgeons. Both funny and craving in their own ways: Taylor’s sour Van Daan jones for cigarettes and food, while Wold’s prickly dentist pines for his lost love.

Lights by Susan A. White are colorful and expressive, and Curtis Craig and Scott Guenther’s music box songs, rail car noises, whistles, sirens, factory sounds, and other effects complete this immersive theatrical experience.

Image: Molly Franco, Travis Tope and Jessica Renee Russell. Photo by Mark Oristano.