I really tried to like CityLit’s “Underneath the Lintel.” I really did. One-man shows are hard, but when you have a good actor, which Michael Joseph Mitchell certainly is, it can sometimes work. Glen Berger’s tale of a wandering librarian’s pursuit of a mythical wandering Jew just does not sit well. The story is interesting enough. After the librarian receives a book returned 113 years overdue by, he believes, a religious icon destined to roam the earth forever; he presents his collected evidence of the apparition’s existence in a lecture to the audience, chalkboard, slide show and all. This is all well and good, but it gets unclear when he begins reliving his initial emotional responses to evidence already catalogued and sealed in plastic baggies. I accept that the character can go through an emotional journey during the course of the lecture, but this is just forced. On top of all that, the fog machine at the end is way gratuitous. (William Scott)

At City Lit Theatre, 1020 W. Bryn Mawr, (773)293-3962. This production is now closed.