There’s so much energy, intellectual ambition and gorgeous stagecraft on display in A Free Man of Color that it’s disheartening to report that it barely works at all. John Guare’s comic, historical epic dealing largely with the Louisiana Purchase is so willfully abstruse, so eager to show off, that audience reaction seems to have been merely an afterthought.

Set between 1801-1806 in locations including New Orleans, France, Spain and others, the work is presented in the grand style of Restoration comedy, complete with the occasional rhyming couplets.

The titular character is Jacques Cornet (Jeffrey Wright, making a too long delayed return to the New York stage), a roué who glories in cutting his romantic swath among the eager women of New Orleans. The mulatto son of a wealthy white man and a black slave, he himself owns several slaves, including Murmur (Mos, apparently no longer Def, here reuniting with Wright for the first time since Topdog/Underdog).

But the foppish, florid Cornet is but one of some forty characters in this sprawling tale, which also features such real-life historical figures as Thomas Jefferson (John McMartin), explorer Meriwether Lewis (Paul Dano), James Monroe (Arnie Burton), Robert Livingston (Veanne Cox) and Napoleon (Triney Sandoval).

The piece varies wildly in tone, with the heavily stylized first act particularly alienating. The playwright frequently indulges in broad strokes of fantastical humor, such as his depiction of a grotesque phallus-wearing Napoleon who delivers a lengthy rant about everything British, including such modern icons as Julie Andrews and James Bond.

Although clearly attempting to examine such serious thematic issues as race relations and class differences in early 19th century America, Guare squanders the inherent potential of his fascinating subject matter and milieu with his kitchen sink approach to the material.

The labored work settles down somewhat in its second half, when it adopts a far more somber and direct tone. But by that time, the ceaseless and confusing procession of characters and subplots has drained most of our energy and attention.

Director George C. Wolfe, no stranger to sprawling epics (Angels in America), is unable to bring any real cohesion to the proceedings. He does, however, invest them with an undeniably striking theatricality, aided mightily by David Rockwell’s extravagant, versatile sets and Ann Hould-Ward’s gorgeous period costumes.

Wright is certainly arresting as Cornet, although his posturing eventually becomes slightly wearisome. Faring best are the performers who are allowed to stay relatively grounded in their characterizations, such as Mos’ resentful slave, McMartin’s conflicted Jefferson and Dano’s resolute Lewis.

Vivian Beaumont Theater, 150 W. 65^th St. 212-239-6200. www.lct.org.