STAGE REVIEW : A Crisp Revival of ‘Born Yesterday’ in Santa Paula

Billie Dawn, the dumb broad in “Born Yesterday,” is so impossible to separate from Judy Holliday, even 44 years after the comedy opened, that any actress essaying the role deserves a salute before the curtain goes up.

But no need to worry about Rachel Babcock at the Santa Paula Theatre Center. Her flat, squeaky voice and fierce pride as the Pygmalion-themed ex-chorine who topples corrupt junk king Harry Brock is a sterling performance. The production, in a lovingly preserved Craftsman-style theater that’s a Ventura County landmark, is a promising kickoff to the center’s first Equity guest contract season under artistic director Dana Elcar.

This durable comedy, Garson Kanin’s first play, remains a blueprint to a keenly structured blend of romance and politics. What has aged are the limited secondary characters surrounding airhead Billie and her coarse racketeer sugar daddy, played here very broadly by Jeff MacKay.

As the megalomaniac Brock, a latent fascist for 1946 audiences whose brutish character has since come to represent corruption as the normal way of life (“This is America, isn’t it?”), MacKay pushes the throttle too hard. Granted this greedy junkman, who’s purchased his senator and his floozy, is a primitive slob. But Harry Brock should be a winning character, too. MacKay is a bit cartoony for the ‘90s.

Director Gretchen Corbett polishes the surfaces with clean, crisp momentum, and set designer Dick Gregg’s Art Deco hotel suite and Frances Erwin’s ‘40s costumes are sharply textured. As the New Republic writer and tutor who steals Billie away from Harry, Gary Bisig is noble and forthright, and the burned-out political hacks and stooges are flecked with touches of credible fear by Pete Trama and Irv Citron.

What’s nice about the show is that Corbett’s staging catches the tone of a 1940s theater experience, even if some of the supporting players seem a bit ill at ease, and Kanin’s lines crackle when the heat’s on. The gin rummy game is a quiet beaut of a scene.

As it must be, the show is carried by Babcock’s leggy Billie Dawn, a fast learner and feminist-in-the-making. Babcock’s Americanized Eliza Doolittle is authentic, hard-headed and loopy-sweet.

At 125 S. 7 th St., Santa Paula, Thursdays through Saturdays, 8 p.m., Sundays, 2:30 p.m., though March 18. Tickets: $9.50-$11. (805) 525-4645.