‘20s PLOT WILTS IN THE ‘80s : A MUSICAL TUNEUP OF BARRY’S ‘IN A GARDEN’

There are two songs in Room for Theatre’s new musical “In a Garden” that have something to offer. These are Larry Poindexter’s beautifully rendered “A Moment, an Hour, a Lifetime” and Rosanna Huffman’s “You Can’t Stop the Festival.” If everything else in this Norman Cohen/Aminadav Aloni adaptation of Philip Barry’s play of the same name came anywhere close, they might have had something. But there isn’t, and they don’t.

In evidence instead is an abundance of rudderless good will. This comedy of manners about the Beautiful People circa 1925 (an affluent writer, his devoted secretary, his restless wife and the friend who once stole her heart and may do so again) is one of those lighthearted bits of Broadway fare designed as pure entertainment in a much more lighthearted time. Today it just feels dated.

To make it sizzle, even in the fantasy world of the musical play, would require exceptional talent. What it has found here is humdrum music and bloodless lyrics (imagine rhyming “givin’ ” and “gin”?), a decent enough book (by Cohen) and surprisingly flaccid direction (Cohen, again).

The cast, on the other hand, is talented, but the combination of weak material and awkward staging in Room for Theatre’s difficult space defeats most of the actors most of the time. The exuberant Billy Barnes (yes, the Billy Barnes of Billy Barnes Revues and other glories) has a small moment of triumph at the end as the writer’s friend/agent/producer, but it’s all uphill getting there--and the role barely taps the size and scope of his talent.

The same applies to Huffman’s Miss Mabie, one of those divinely sage and sedate secretaries, who surrenders her spectacles and the bun in her hair on cue to get seductively tipsy at just the right moment (as any good secretary would) and try to rescue her boss’ marriage for him, even if she has been in love with him all her life. Huffman (whose performance in “Jane Heights” a few years ago is a delicious memory) makes the most of this depressing situation, but doesn’t quite overcome the role’s slavishness or its remarkable absence of logic.

Harley Kozak as the disputed wife, Lissa, has the right, tremulous good looks, but she has trouble with high notes and finding her character. This is not all her fault. Her character has been given very poor definition, not unlike that of her husband, Adrian, who will do anything (even the wrong thing) to save his marriage. As that husband, Richard Lenz has a delightfully languid Jimmy Stewart look and Stewart’s easygoing manner, but we have to side a bit with the mixed-up Lissa, because we never get to know who this man really is any more than she does.

Only Poindexter as the intrusive charmer, Norris, has it all together. He sings well, moves and seduces well, and looks a bit like Warren Beatty, which doesn’t hurt. As for the remaining characters--Frederick the butler (Kristopher Klucznick, a bit too young) and a designer named Ogden Arkatoff (Rick Friesen, a bit too flamboyant), they do what such peripheral figures were expected to do in the 1920s. This falls short of effective in the ‘80s.

Ultimately, however, “In a Garden’s” biggest trouble is its lack of inspiration and occasional inattention to detail. Except for the two songs mentioned, Aloni’s music is undistinguished and his lyrics too often sound like something a first grader might have put together on class break. (For the record, James Ploss, who had collaborated with Cohen on another musical adaptation at Room for Theatre two years ago, that one based on Shaw’s “You Never Can Tell,” also contributed some lyrics; we shan’t hold it against him.)

Miriam Nelson staged the musical numbers as effectively as the space allows, and with greater inventiveness in the case of Miss Mabie’s dance of semi-emancipation. Costumes by Ada Akaji have a period flavor, but the set by Gary L. Wissmann--all painted flats and gaudy florals, nicely lit by Geoffrey Rinehart--is short on logic. People seem to enter from the outside, the kitchen or the bedroom using the same two doors, even though they are positioned at opposite ends of the room.

This is presumably a work-in-progress, but progress to where? There’s more to overcome here than may make progress possible.

Performances at 12745 Ventura Blvd. (in the shopping mall) run Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m.; Sundays at 4:30 p.m. Tickets: $12.50-$15. (818) 509-0459. There will be a special senior matinee Sunday, 12:30 p.m. Tickets for that single event are $5.