‘READY WHEN YOU ARE, C.B.’

Susan Slade’s “Ready When You Are, C.B.” is a thin, mild-mannered comedy about--surprise, surprise--the importance of making a commitment. Not even Julie Harris could do much with it when it was on Broadway in 1964; what’s surprising is that anyone would dredge it up.

Ellen Gerkin, smiling somewhat too gamely, has the Harris role--a New York actress who earns her living by renting out her flat rather than by working at her profession. Her life is transformed--well, interrupted--by one of her tenants, a Hollywood star/satyr who’s played by Fran Montano with a dash of genuine charisma.

At the end, we’re supposed to be grateful that the woman has chosen to concentrate on the stage, even though her talents appear to lie in real estate management instead of acting. This is an ending that’s guaranteed to depress theater critics.

Edward Kaye-Martin directed. The funniest thing in the show is a parade of (uncredited) ugly women’s outfits--were early ‘60s fashions really this awful?

Performances are at Night Flight Theatre, 226 N. Golden Mall, Burbank, Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 3 p.m., through May 11, (818) 848-2469.