STAGE REVIEWS : ‘Magnolias’ Blooms Despite Flaws : Robert Harling’s script isn’t hurt too badly by the imperfect direction at Huntington Beach Playhouse. And the portrayal of M’Lynn is remarkable.

“Steel Magnolias” is a play as lovely and indomitable as its title suggests. The Huntington Beach Playhouse production, though uneven, is enjoyable, anchored as it is by the fiery performance of Nancy Ryan as M’Lynn.

M’Lynn is the mother of Shelby, a young bride, mother and diabetic, whose short life and passionate spirit are the touchstone of the play’s story. Laura Williams is an attractive and spunky Shelby, but Ryan gives M’Lynn remarkable depth and a trembling vitality that make the denouement true and very affecting.

Robert Harling’s script is so well-crafted that it flies despite the uncertain hand of director Darlene Hunter-Chaffee, whose orchestration of the play has the subtlety of a radio turned up too loud. Hunter-Chaffee doesn’t seem to know where the laughs really are, but the audience managed to find them, thanks partly to Denison Glass as Annelle. Glass is gawky and game as the hapless shop assistant in Truvy’s Beauty Salon in Chinquapin, La., where the action takes place.

Truvy (Pattric Walker) is a big-hearted hairdresser whose principal customers include the ex-mayor’s widow, Clairee, and an eccentric curmudgeon named Ouiser. Both Marcia Bertholf as Clairee and Ruth Siegall as Ouiser are too young for their roles, which are built in part around recurrent references to being older than God and having outlived just about everyone and everything. But Bertholf shows admirable restraint in her less-showy part, allowing her considerable elegance and poise to shine through. Siegall’s stridence cannot shrink Harling’s foolproof comic writing, even though her interpretation of the wonderful Southern character is Louisiana via Brighton Beach.

The sense of the South generally evaporates with the accents. It is unlikely, for example, that KPPD, the station of choice in Chinquapin County, would play George Winston. The set is serviceable, although not at all suggestive of a remodeled carport.

The Huntington Beach Playhouse will be moving into a new theater, perhaps as early as the end of next season. There was no sense at Saturday’s performance that it has outgrown its present home. That may be a tribute to the management as well as an indication that the next year and a half requires expansion of artistic goals as well as facilities. ‘STEEL MAGNOLIAS’

A Huntington Beach Playhouse production of the Robert Harling play. Produced by Robert Lehman and Bill Verhagen. Directed by Darlene Hunter-Chaffee. With Pattric Walker, Denison Glass, Marcia Bertholf, Laura Williams, Nancy Ryan, Ruth Siegall, Brenen Baird. Performances Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. through April 13 at the Huntington Beach Playhouse, 21141 Strathmoor Lane, Huntington Beach. Tickets $6-8. (714) 842-1402.