A lonely, bedraggled man wanders through a torrential downpour in Alice Springs, Australia. As passers-by rush dizzyingly by under a cover of umbrellas, the brooding sky opens up as an enormous fish drops at the feet of Gabriel York, and an exciting, challenging new play falls into the laps of New York theatergoers.

Following award-winning runs in Sydney, Melbourne and London, the melancholic family epic WHEN THE RAIN STOPS FALLING has arrived in North America, courtesy of a stunning production from Lincoln Center Theatre. On David Korins’ austere plexiglass double-revolve stage, starkly lit by Tyler Micoleau, Andrew Bovell’s ambitiously structured play spins back and forth between 1959 and 2039, with several stops in-between. Some audience members may be put off by the kaleidoscopic narrative, but for the patient theatergoer, the dividends are well worth it.

Gabriel York (the wonderfully haunted Michael Siberry) awaits the arrival of his estranged adult son. "I know what he wants,” he says. “He wants what all young men want from their fathers. He wants to know who he is. Where he comes from. Where he belongs. And for the life of me I don't know what to tell him."

The family’s demons gradually come to light as patterns emerge in brief snapshots: similar quips about the weather in Bangladesh; fish soup simmers on the same stove; and is served at the same wooden table across four generations and two continents. Characters’ relationships across multiple generations gradually crystallize as lonely people avoid questions of family legacy, while desperately seeking some kind of human connection.

Though a family tree is provided in the play’s program, part of the fun for audience members is unraveling the family’s mysteries – discovering via nuanced acting and Clint Ramos’s subtle costumes how the various threads tie together, and which characters are older and younger versions of the same selves. The entire nine-member acting ensemble is fantastic; it’s not fair to single out highlights. Suffice it to say, in addition to the aforementioned Siberry, Kate Blumberg, Victoria Clark, Mary Beth Hurt, Rod MacLachlan, Susan Pourfar, Will Rogers, Richard Topol, and Henry Vick all inhabit their roles with incredible detail and clarity. I’d imagine that repeat viewings would reward audiences with an even better appreciation of these actors’ delicately shaded performances.

The taut, fluid staging (and fine acting by the nine-member ensemble) demonstrates why David Cromer is one of our best directors working today. Cromer proves himself equally adept with the twisty chronology of WHEN THE RAIN STOPS FALLING as he was in breathing new life into the American classic Our Town in 2009 (still delighting audiences at the Barrow Street Theatre) and the boundary-pushing 2008 musical Adding Machine. Cromer won Lortel Awards for his direction of both productions; can he pull off a three-peat? Find out when the 2010 Lortel Award nominations are announced on April 1. (We’ll be the first to announce the nominations – follow us on Twitter or be our friend on Facebook to be among the first to know!)

The performance schedule for WHEN THE RAIN STOPS FALLING is Tuesday through Saturday evenings at 8pm, with matinees Wednesday and Saturday at 2pm and Sunday at 3pm. Tickets, priced at $80 and $85, are available at the Lincoln Center Theatre Box Office, at Telecharge.com (212) 239-6200 or by visiting www.lct.org.