STAGE REVIEW : A Breakneck Night at the Opera in ‘Lend Me a Tenor’

You have to love silly to enjoy “Lend Me a Tenor,” the operatic farce concocted by entertainment lawyer and playwright Ken Ludwig in which every line is not witty and every move begs to be smartly synchronized.

The timing is not quite that sharp in the production that opened Thursday at the La Mirada Theatre, but sharp enough to make this an evening of newfangled, old-fashioned fun, thanks in largest measure to the quirks and contributions of John Astin, Gary Beach and David Ruprecht.

Beach and Ruprecht are the tenors of the title in a play that feels like a cross between “Noises Off,” Preston Sturges and all of Kaufman and Hart. Like most farces, it has slamming doors (six), mistaken identities, suspicious coincidence, lots of hysteria and a share of groaners.

John Astin is Saunders, the flustered impresario of a Cleveland opera company who becomes apoplectic when Tito Morelli (Beach), the Italian tenor he has hired to sing Verdi’s “Otello,” knocks himself out with too many pills.

What do you do when your tenor defaults and you don’t want to refund all those tickets? You insist that your nebbishy sidekick, Max (Ruprecht), who has always had operatic ambitions, finally put them to the test. This night, in this role. Impersonating another.

You can pretty much guess where this goes from here, with Tito and Max barely missing each other in identical “Otello” costumes and a set of contrived circumstances wherein Max’s girl-friend Maggie (Eileen Dunn) chases down handsome Tito only to get Max, wherein slinky soprano Diana (Randall Edwards) chases down Tito only to get Tito, and wherein Tito’s termagant wife Maria (Christopher Callen), storms in and out of the marriage chasing down extracurricular women with the instincts of a bloodhound.

It’s your quintessential Feydeau farce with a good deal of hiding in bathrooms and closets, plenty of stereotyping and lots of bad Italian-American spoken here. As humor, that gets old in a hurry, especially when the jokes don’t rise above sea level. Diana, pouring champagne: “Is Mumm all right?” Tito: “She’s-a-fine, thank you.”

Granted, that’s the worst, but Ludwig is better at visual than at spoken comedy, and director Glenn Casale has everyone whipped up to a steaming frenzy without for an instant inviting departure from the tried and true--a fault at least partially rooted in the text.

Aside from some blurred timing opening night, the show also requires suspension of disbelief. Never mind that there are two identical “Otello” costumes conveniently floating around. Never mind that Maggie is all too eager to jump into bed with Tito, and that Max-disguised-as-Tito doesn’t seem to care. This is a comedy and it all works out happily in the end. The end is definitely the best part--a curtain call in which the play’s events are recapitulated in about 50 frenetic seconds.

Designer Joanne Trunick McMaster has provided an elegant Art-Deco Cleveland hotel suite with appropriately bright lighting from Raun Yankovich. Chuck McCarroll’s body-miking could be sharper, but Denise Menz’s costumes have a nice touch of class (though the “Otellos” shouldn’t have to wear fright wigs).

Beach and Ruprecht make beautiful music together. Not only can they both sing, but they have a fine sense of comedy--Beach’s big and blustery, Ruprecht’s very Walter Mitty. Equally delicious is Astin, who at the height of every calamity looks like he’s hatching a plot. You’ll spot the devilish Gomez Addams smile at once, and his way of rounding his eyes and fastening his gaze on the audience like a clamp.

Dunn, who appeared as Maggie on Broadway, has a certain featureless apple-pie American charm that makes one believe that she and timid Max will live happily ever after. Edwards is the sleek seductress as cardboard-cutout Diana, but not lacking in a sense of humor. And Steve Rogers forces the confrontational as a bellboy with a personal agenda.

Predictably, Mary Jo Catlett is all fuss and high registers as society matron and opera maven Julia, while Callen is all fury and low registers as temperamental Maria Morelli. One cackles, while the other fumes, but neither, as written, is more dimensional than that.

“Lend Me a Tenor” is a maverick, a modern imitation of the past that has had runs in London, Toronto and New York (1989), collecting a vote for best play in Canada, a nomination for London’s Olivier Award and two Tonys on Broadway. Another production opens Nov. 20 in San Diego and another in January at the Pasadena Playhouse. Ludwig must be doing something right.

“Lend Me a Tenor,” La Mirada Theatre, 14900 La Mirada Blvd., La Mirada. Tuesdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7:30 p.m.; Saturdays-Sundays, 2:30 p.m. Ends Nov. 24. $23-$27. (310) 944-9801, (714) 994-6310). Running time: 2 hours.

‘Lend Me a Tenor’

Eileen Dunn: Maggie

David Ruprecht: Max

John Astin: Saunders

Gary Beach: Tito

Christopher Callen: Maria

Steve Rogers: Bellboy

Randall Edwards: Diana

Mary Jo Catlett: Julia

Executive producer Herb Rogers. Director Glenn Casale. Playwright Ken Ludwig. Sets Joanne Trunick McMaster. Lights Raun Yankovitch. Costumes Denise Menz. Props Kat Graeber. Sound Chuck McCarroll. Production stage manager Steven Donner.