O.C. STAGE REVIEW : This ‘Town’ Is Not Even on the Map : The Laguna Playhouse revival of the 1944 musical tries hard, but the staging comes off as contrived and the pace sluggish.

File it under nice college tries, with high marks for good intentions and really high marks for the Art Deco styling (except in certain places) and really, really high marks for all the pretty lights and oh-so-much effort.

But--how can we say this gently?--the Laguna Playhouse revival of “On the Town” just doesn’t connect. On opening night Thursday at the Moulton Theatre, this big dance musical from 1944, with a score by Leonard Bernstein and book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, had the look of a well-dressed but flat-footed debutante with no place to go and no place to hide.

The story, about three World War II sailors pursuing three women while on shore leave for a day and a night in Manhattan, is a romantic fantasy combined with satirical humor.

But the staging by Laguna’s new artistic director, Andrew Barnicle--his first outing for the Playhouse--seems engineered rather than inspired. The promised keep-things-moving pace turns out to be sluggish and not a little clunky. The blend of romance and humor is fitful at best.

Dressed in zoot suits and sequins and set to new choreography by Jack Tygett (replacing the original by Jerome Robbins), this “On the Town” doesn’t want for the vintage feel of the ‘40s. But the Bernstein music, as filtered through a five-piece band under the direction of Bill Doyle, sounded uncharacteristically charmless. Balances between the (blasting) trumpet and the (muffled) piano were way off and had a tendency to drown out the lyrics.

Even so, the production is lucky to have three fine performers: musically savvy Brie Rosen, who can belt or croon and virtually drives off with the show as Hildy, the man-hungry cabbie; long-legged Adam Pelty, who both croons and dances with marvelous flair in an otherwise bland portrayal of Gabey, the incurably innocent sailor in love with the subway-poster girl Miss Turnstiles; and Michael Berry, who also sings with pizazz and has all the right dance moves. Perhaps more important, he brings personality to the role of Ozzie, the sailor who is sized up and seized by a high-toned anthropologist with lowdown intentions.

The quality of the performances falls off considerably from there. Lee Wilson, one of three professional guest stars (along with Pelty and Berry), doesn’t do much with Miss Turnstiles, a.k.a. Ivy Smith, who is actually a belly dancer at Coney Island. Admittedly the role is sketchily written. But even in Tygett’s fantasy ballets, which are threaded through the plot, Wilson came up short. Her dancing looked choppy and lacked extension. Nothing romantic there. Meanwhile, Meta-Kate Hellman delivers a shrieky performance as Claire, turning her into more of an anthropological twit than needed.

Although the production is an undeniably lavish effort in both technical and artistic terms, some of it is misplaced. For instance, Jeff Thomson’s Art Deco design for the interior of a New York subway car, a central set piece, results in scenes that just lie there. It’s not because the cars never looked like a building lobby even in the halcyon days of the ‘40s, but because the suggestion of movement (in directing and design) is lacking. Moreover, roles that should get laughs with sharp caricature (such as Ivy’s boozy singing teacher Madame Dilly) merely go over the top with staginess.

Perhaps with more performances, the large company of 29 players will develop a radiance to match Liz Stillwell’s lighting. Until then, however, “On the Town” is likely to remain a bit under the weather.

‘On the Town’

A Laguna Playhouse production. Directed by Andrew Barnicle, with choreography by Jack Tygett. Music by Leonard Bernstein. Book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. Based on an idea by Jerome Robbins. Set by Jeff Thomson. Lighting by Liz Stillwell. Costumes by Jacqueline Dalley. Sound by David Edwards. Music director: Bill Doyle. With S.M. Angel, Ed Belfrey, Michael Berry, Jacqueline Suzanne Case, Tim Dey, Ann-Marie Etchepare, Stephanie Fargo, Nancy Fast, Connie Michelle Frady, Meta-Kate Hellman, Michael Hickey, Randy Horton, Sara Lepere, Colleen McInnes, Erin McInnes, Kathleen McNally, James Millimet, Tomis Minter, April Morgan, Michael Ozawa, Adam Pelty, Dewain Robinson, Brie Rosen, Doina Roman, Stacey Tiller, Jeff Venanzi, Vincent Von Lenhoff, Trish Will, Lee Wilson. Continues through Sept. 29 at the Moulton Theatre, 606 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach. Tuesdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m.; Sundays Sept. 15 and 22 at 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday matinees Sept. 14, 15, 21, 22, 28 and 29 at 2 p.m. Tickets: $14 to $22. Information: (714) 494-8021.