Well the Missus and I trundled down to Calderwood Pavilion in the South End last night to catch the Company One Theatre production of Colossal and man, it was moving – in virtually every sense of the word.

Andrew Hinderaker’s play is the story of a young man named Mike who foregoes a career as a dancer to become a college football player, and then becomes a paraplegic.

The lights burn bright. The smell of turf hangs thickly in the air. The crowd erupts in thunderous applause. The beauty and brutality of football seduce Mike to stray from the path his father had mapped out for him, but when a snap decision results in a career-ending injury, Mike must tackle the past and make peace with the man he dreamed he would be.

The production is all about the intersection of choreography and athleticism, dance and football. And the cast is uniformly terrific.

Special mention to Marlon Shepard

and Alex Molina

for depicting the two Mikes in totally riveting performances.

The choreography of Tommy Neblett, the direction of Summer L. Williams (who also directed Intimate Apparel at the Lyric Stage Company of Boston earlier this year), the scenic and production design of Kathryn Lieber – are all spot-on in this crushingly effective production.

Don’t just take our word – here’s Joel Brown’s Boston Globe review.

And here are audience reviews.

The production runs through August 15. Do yourself a favor and catch it.