Dancers swirl around the stage in their early 20th century finery, switching couplings to the accompaniment of an ever-evolving folk tune. One lonely face stands out: Horace Robedaux, a stand-in for the playwright’s father, the central character in Horton Foote’s grand theatrical event, The Orphans’ Home Cycle.

In the 1970s, Horton Foote wrote a series of nine interrelated by separate plays inspired by his father’s life. Shortly before his death this part March, he condensed and adapted these works to create the new nine-hour theatrical epic, performed in three installments of three plays each. “Part One: The Story of a Childhood” found a young boy named Horace Robedaux thrust out into the world and fending for himself, and the remarkable “Part Two: The Story of a Marriage,” which opened this past week, concerns itself with his twin quests for love and something resembling home.

The rueful but joyful play goes down like a glass of homemade lemonade: sweet and slightly sour, with enough bits of pulp to remind you of the love and craft that went into its creation.

Can one enjoy Part Two of the cycle without having seen Part One? Certainly – my guest for the evening hadn’t experienced “The Story of a Childhood” but was enthralled by the three plays that made up “The Story of a Marriage.” (Incidentally, my theatre buddy hails from a small Texas town like Foote’s fictional Harrison, and found the actors’ rural accents to be spot-on.) But audience members who are lucky enough to snag tickets to both parts reap the rewards of watching the entire small-town saga unfold gradually – the overall effect is not unlike watching back-to-back-to-back episodes of your favorite television series on DVD.

From play to play, the actors’ performances grow and evolve as their characters mature, particularly Bill Heck who portrays the titular orphan, Horace Robedaux, in his adult years. Other members of the 22-actor cast play multiple roles, and Sigmund Freud would have a field day with some of the double-casting. In Part Two, Dylan Riley Snyder plays a young boy who sees in Horace the father he desperately wants, and in Part One he portrayed a 12-year-old version of the fatherless Horace. Also, Virginia Kull, young Horace’s inattentive mother in the first part of the cycle, plays the complicated role in part two of Widow Claire, a resourceful woman with many beaus, including Horace. Kull gives a magnificent performance, by the way, sympathetically playing a woman who might be considered “fast” but acts in the best interest of her family; her face at the act one finale tells a thousand beautiful, complex, contradictory stories.

Other strong performances include Maggie Lacey as Elizabeth Vaughn who defies the iron will of her parents with equally steely resolve to marry the man she loves, and James DeMarse as her father who discovers he has more in common with Horace than he thought possible.

The New York Times recently reported a rumor that the show may transfer to Broadway in April. Who knows if this move will actually happen, but one of the joys of the production at the Signature Theatre’s Peter Norton Space is the marvelous intimacy of the theater – to see Horton Foote’s masterpiece cozily ensconced in a 160-seat theatre is a truly singular experience. Beg, borrow, or steal tickets if you must, but theatre-lovers owe it to themselves to make every effort to see The Orphans’ Home Cycle at the Signature Theatre.

Click HERE to read the INSIDER BLOG about Part One of the Cycle. 

The Orphans' Home Cycle plays Tuesday through Friday at 7pm, Saturdays at 8pm, Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays at 2pm. The show plays at The Peter Norton Space located at 555 West 42nd Street (between 10th and 11th Avenues). For more information or to purchase tickets, please visitwww.signaturetheatre.org or call 212-244-PLAY (7529).