If you can't tell a story in four hours onstage, maybe it's time to reconsider how you approach your source material. On the other hand, when you have a sparkling new score from Michael John LaChiusa, you may wish for the experience to go on forever. That's the conundrum with Signature Theatre's world premiere production of
Giant, adapted from Edna Ferber's novel about powerful Texas ranchers in the mid-20th century, in which the pluses ultimately outweigh the minuses.

Without question, Ferber's sweeping novel encompasses too much in the way of plot and theme to boil it all down for the stage in one sitting -- as it spans almost three decades and explores such myriad themes as love, famil[...]