Ask the man who's been there -- in this case, me. The odd title of Pittsburgh Public Theater's new play, "Life X 3," is properly pronounced "Life Times Three," and as it happens, I've seen it three times. So I can tell you that it's a wonderful French comedy that spirals upward to heart-filling epiphany -- but it has very real pitfalls.

	Above: Brandon Williams plays Henri at the Public. Below: Caris Vujcec as Sonia Click photos for larger image. 'Life X 3' Where: Pittsburgh Public's O'Reilly Theater, Downtown. When: Today through April 8; 8 p.m. Tues.-Sat.; 2 and 7 p.m. Sun.; 7 p.m. April 3; 2 p.m. April 7. Tickets: $12.50-$49.50, 412-316-1600, www.ppt.org or www.pgharts.org.

Which will it be at the Public?

Previews begin in earnest tonight, and the professional critics (as opposed to everyone else, also critics) aren't invited until the Ides of March.

The author is Yasmina Reza, the witty, clever French creator of the hyper-popular "Art" and such other, more rarefied delights as "The Unexpected Man." Translated as usual by British playwright Christopher Hampton, this smart comedy takes a slice of familiar life and plays it three times, but with significant differences.

The situation is that Henri and Sonia, a rather mousy young astronomer and his more assertive wife, have invited Hubert and Ines, Henri's elegant boss and his condescended-to wife, to dinner -- and they show up a day early. A "dinnerless dinner party," the Public calls it, which isn't quite right: They do eat, but it isn't exactly what the French would call food.

Comic catastrophe builds; then suddenly the scene starts again; and then again. Each time it changes, but incrementally, incorporating bits of what we've seen before. Gradually the characters evolve, and we evolve with them, as if in parallel to the huge forces of a evolving universe. It's almost as though these four are a planetary system or one of Henri's galaxies, spiraling forward through space-time.

The play ends up being simultaneously about life on three levels: marital/familial, professional/academic and spiritual/cosmic. "There is light enough for those who wish to see," said Pascal, "and darkness enough for those of the opposite disposition" -- equally true of personality, marriage, professional life, intellect and the cosmos.

	Above: Rob Breckenridge as Hubert Below: Susan Angelo as Ines Click photos for larger image.

My first encounter with this short, expansive play was in 2001 at London's Old Vic (transferred from the National Theatre), where the cast was Mark Rylance, Harriet Walter, Oliver Cotton and Imelda Staunton. It was so wonderful I went back later with my wife. On Broadway in 2003, the cast was John Turturro, Helen Hunt, Brent Spiner and Linda Emond -- certainly a match in celebrity, at least.

The New York set was very clever, using concentric circles and scattered toys to create a covert model of the solar system, signaling the play's deeper intent. The result was a smart, entertaining comedy that never registered as more. It didn't get a single Tony nomination, and I lost my plea to have it included in "Best Plays," the annual yearbook of the American theater. [NOTE: two readers wrote to correct this, pointing out that Emond, whom I praised in my review as better than Staunton in London, was nominated for the supporting actress Tony.]

What went wrong? It wouldn't seem to have been Matthew Warchus, who directed in both places. Perhaps it was the theater, New York's in-the-round Circle in the Square, which allows less focus than the traditional proscenium stage at the Old Vic.

But I think it was the actors or thoughtless audience. As I said in my review, gag-response laughter was evidence something was wrong. Instead of getting to know Henri and Sonia, we were invited to laugh at the wimpy professor and fed-up wife. Turturro's Henri was all sitcom obvious, without Rylance's subtlety, charm or hidden strength, so there was no possibility of evolution. Only Edmond bettered her London counterpart.

In Pittsburgh, the parts are being played, respectively, by Brandon Williams, Caris Vujcec, Rob Breckenridge and Susan Angelo, all (except that Williams went to CMU) little-known here. Directing is Jesse Berger (last year's "I Am My Own Wife"). The collaborating designers are Luke Cantarella (set), Alejo Vietti (costumes), John Lasiter (lights) and Zach Moore (sound).

I am eager to see the result. This is a comedy of the mundane that is also about worlds rushing apart or colliding.

I ended my Broadway review by saying, "That 'Life X 3' is also a moving drama of mankind's struggle at the center of a dark cosmos remains to be proved by a regional theater alert to its subtle power."