Audience members, like me, who may recall Asolo Rep’s productions a few years ago of Nilo Cruz’s Sotto Voce and Hamlet, Prince of Cuba, will most likely enjoy the playwright’s distinctive and poetic voice in the company’s newest production, Anna in the Tropics. They may also expect satisfying drama, given that Anna received the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for playwriting.

And there are moments that touch the soul in this production. To begin with, the production values are excellent, as is typical at the Asolo. The set design, by Regina Garcia, takes us convincingly to an Ybor City cigar factory, circa 1929; the costumes by Ana Kuzmanic, especially those softly colorful dresses worn by the female characters, are a pleasure to look at; and Stacey Derosier’s lighting is crucial to the atmosphere, heightening the romantic languor and longing of the characters.

Those characters include the factory’s owners, Santiago (Juan Luis Acevedo) and his wife, Ofelia (Zuleyma Guevara); his half-brother Cheche (Nick Duckart); his daughters, the young Marela (Kanisha Marie Feliciano) and the older, married Conchita (Jenyvette Vega); and Conchita's roaming husband, Palomo (Jose-Marie Aguila). The balance of their daily lives is upset, in both good and bad ways, with the arrival of a handsome new lector, Juan Julian (Gabriell Salgado), whose job it is to read aloud to the workers as they spend long days hand-rolling their products.

The lector tradition is based on fact, although it might have been more common for these readers to offer their listeners stories from the newspapers than the book of choice here: Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. Whether appropriate material or not, though, the book’s tale of illicit passion between the married Anna and her lover, Count Vronsky, ignites similar emotions between Juan Julian and Conchita. Throw into the mix Cheche’s determination to mechanize the factory, Santiago’s predilection for gambling, and Palomo’s growing jealousy, and you have the elements for upheaval.

So, yes, the elements are there, and there are some good performances onstage, too, especially from Guevara as the grounded Ofelia, Vega as the wistful/lustful Conchita, and Feliciano as the innocent Marela. (The female actors fare somewhat better than the men.) The production is also aided a great deal by the original music of Dayramir Gonzalez, whose piano compositions, which he performs onstage, so well match the moods of the play.

But I had problems with murky motivations in Anna in the Tropics, at least in this production. Cheche’s role feels designed to fill a need for a melodramatic villain in the piece, especially with regard to his interactions with Marela. Whatever demons he has are not fully realized. The marriage of Palomo and Conchita is not drawn as completely as I’d like, either. Perhaps a more minor carp: The opening scenes of cockfight gambling, while no doubt historically accurate, are a bit extended under the direction of Marcela Lorca, stalling the launch of the main story.

So, for me, the anticipated pleasures of Anna in the Tropics were not fully met. But I should add that didn’t seem to be the case for others; while a few seats did empty at intermission, those watchers who remained gave (as frequently happens on Asolo opening nights) a standing ovation.

Anna in the Tropics continues through March 13. For tickets, call (941) 351-8000 or visit asolorep.org.