Combs Photo by Ward Boult

Though he lived only forty years, Edgar Allan Poe has made a lasting impression on American literature. In the vanguard of the so-called American Romantic Movement, Poe is most remembered for his macabre poetry and dark prose. But he was also among this nation's first and foremost practitioners of the short story. What's more, Poe is thought to be the inventor of the detective-fiction genre, and is credited with the promotion of the emerging science-fiction literary format.

Now, in a one-man show called Nevermore (at the Steve Allen Theater in Hollywood, indefinitely), Jeffrey Combs (star of the cult-classic film Re-Animator) is mesmerizing as Poe. Working from a well-researched script by Dennis Paoli (who also penned the screenplay for Re-Animator), and with taut direction by Stuart Gordon (who, as you might expect, directed Re-Animator) - it's as if Poe himself has been re-animated for this enthralling ninety-minute display.

Paoli's treatment is cribbed from Poe's own letters and essays, as well as newspaper reports and reviews of Poe's public appearances. So, while we in the audience are offered compelling renditions of Poe standards such as The Tell-Tale Heart, Annabel Lee, and, of course, The Raven - Combs is at his manic best during these poetic performances - we are also made privy to Poe's demons, alcoholism being at the top of that d-list. Indeed, Combs' portrayal of Poe's of various stages of intoxication is by turns comic and tragic. Ultimately, however, it is evident that libation and addiction were the down fall of this unique literary artist.

We learn that Poe was also unlucky at love. He married his thirteen year-old cousin, Virginia Clemm, and was romantically involved with the doomed Jane Standard, the mother of Poe's close friend, Rob. In this show, Poe's troubled relationship with poet and critic Sarah Helen Whitman is alluded to in a remarkable feat of theatricality that must be seen in order to be fully appreciated. Suffice it to say, Poe (Combs) refers to Whitman as if she's in the audience. Certainly she is not there; but theatergoers turn their heads in mass unison to spot the illusive figure anyway.

For those with only a cursory familiarity of the life and times of Edgar Allan Poe, it's enlightening to discover that Poe - famous in his short lifetime, but never wealthy - was the object of ridicule amongst the northeastern literati of the period, including Ralph Waldo Emerson and Washington Irving. But Poe's harshest critic, if not rival, was Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, whom Poe accused of "barbarous plagiarism" and "literary robbery."

Nevermore is a duly dramatic treatise on an ever fascinating figure-of-letters, who's perennially on the cusp of the American conscious. Bravo to Poe. Bravo to this simple, elegant production.

Nevermore continues at the Steve Allen Theater - 4773 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood - indefinitely. Show times are at 8 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. For reservations, dial 1-800- 595-4849. For more information and online ticketing, visit www.steveallentheater.com.