As I wrote last week, Chapel Hill’s 2014-15 theater season is already turning into something really special. Between “A Kid Like Jake” at Deep Dish and “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” at Playmakers, plus Roger Guenveur Smith’s one-man “Rodney King” and the launch of a year-long commemoration of World War I at both UNC and the ArtsCenter, it’s been a pretty good time to be a local theater buff.

But while those shows have been terrific, they were just the prologue. Deep Dish just opened “The Landing” – a new play from “Chicago” composer John Kander, running now through November 22 – and while opinions on it have been divided, I’m in the camp that believes it’s the best show of the season so far. (Bonus: Deep Dish’s production is the first time this play has been seen outside New York.)

What is “The Landing”? It’s hard to describe. (Check out the program: director Paul Frellick and dramaturg Jenni Rajewski are both given an entire page each to write about the play, and neither one even tries to describe it.) I could start by calling it a musical, but even that’s not really true: yes, there’s an orchestra, and yes, the actors sing, but there are only a couple full-blown songs. And is it one musical, or three? The play is divided into three parts, “Andra,” “The Brick,” and “The Landing” (which gives the show its title), and each part is essentially a separate one-act play – with different settings, different characters, and no obvious connection between them except for the fact that the same four actors appear in each. It feels like a night of one-acts, or something akin to “10 By 10 In The Triangle,” rather than a single production.

But there are themes, motifs, feelings, little threads that weave between the three acts and tie them together in subtle ways. Playwright Greg Pierce drew inspiration from “The Twilight Zone”: each act, each play, presents us with a family that by all outward appearances is happy and normal – but something, something, is amiss. Sometimes (as in “Andra”) that something is a common everyday thing; sometimes (as in “The Brick”) it’s a little more supernatural – but in all three, somewhere, there’s a jagged, uncanny element that threatens or undermines the whole foundation. “The Landing” is a series of plays about people who are a little bit lonely, or a little bit unfulfilled, who finally find that one thing, that missing piece, that makes them whole – only to learn there’s something juuust a little bit off at the core.

John Allore and Neil Bullard in "Andra," the first act of "The Landing."

John Allore and Neil Bullard in “Andra,” the first act of “The Landing.”

Which sounds very maudlin, doesn’t it? But no. It’s a serious theme, but there are a bunch of different ways to present it, and that’s where “The Landing”’s triptych approach really works. “Andra” – about a lonely boy striking up a friendship with the handyman who’s painting his kitchen – is a sweet little piece with a quiet payoff. “The Landing” – the last act of the night, about a gay couple who adopt a teenage boy – has a more powerful dramatic punch. And in between, you have “The Brick,” which is about – actually, you know what, I’m not even going to tell you what “The Brick” is about. Let’s just say it’s a comic riff on 1940s noir and leave it at that. The point is that it’s funny. Same overarching themes, loneliness, unfulfillment, happiness not quite attained and all that – but it’s fun. (I couldn’t stop grinning all the way through it.)

I interviewed director Paul Frellick and actor Neil Bullard on the air last month. You can listen to it here.

So let’s talk about the production. Shout-out first to set designer Thomas Mauney, who had to design a set versatile enough to fit three different settings while simultaneously accommodating a four-piece orchestra, all on a rather small stage. He makes it work: the set looks crowded when you first walk in, but it’s perfect for the show itself. Shout-out second to musical director Glenn Mehrbach, who had to figure out a way to keep the music from overpowering the singers – which is hard enough to do at DPAC, let alone a tiny space like Deep Dish. I’d never seen a musical actually work in a small theater, but dang if Mehrbach and his orchestra don’t pull it off. The music’s terrific.

The four actors, John Allore, Mark Ridenour, Erin Tito, and 14-year-old Neil Bullard, also have a difficult task, playing three very different characters in the course of a single show. Each of them gets a chance to shine. Allore is the star: quietly heartbreaking as the handyman in “Andra,” broadly comic in multiple roles in “The Brick.” Bullard’s singing voice isn’t as strong as the other three actors, but he holds his own in three pivotal roles. And Ridenour and Tito are solid throughout – Ridenour in “The Landing” especially – but they’ll really blow you away in “The Brick.” (Their duet on the song “White Water” is the highlight of the show: it’s a noir-y, gangster-y song, and if you’d forgotten the music was composed by the same guy who wrote “Cabaret” and “All That Jazz” and “Mr. Cellophane” and “Cell Block Tango,” well, here’s your reminder.)

So how to conclude? I will say this: “The Landing” is a polarizing show. I loved it, unreservedly – it’s one of the two best plays I’ve ever seen at Deep Dish – but it’s not for everybody. You might really enjoy it, like I did, or you might just be confused as to what the heck is even going on. Different people have had different reactions. It is quirky, it is offbeat, it is weird – there’s a reason it opened on Halloween night – and if that’s not your thing, well, maybe this isn’t your thing. (And even if that is your thing, it’s still no guarantee. Several of my friends have seen it, and we’re all divided. But if nothing else, this play has generated more thoughtful discussion than anything else we’ve seen in a while. And one thing we do agree on: of the three acts, “The Brick” is the best. I was still humming “White Water” to myself two days later.)

But if you’re okay with something that’s just a little off-center, then see this play. “The Landing” absolutely crackles with life. It’s worth the challenge.

“The Landing” runs through November 22 at Deep Dish Theater Company, located in University Mall. Visit this link for ticket information, as well as a schedule of related events and discussions.