O.C. THEATER : ‘Fantasticks’ Done With Sense of Style : GroveShakespeare’s production at Gem Theatre in Garden Grove gets the full treatment with ideally matched players.

At first blush, GroveShakespeare’s decision to stage “The Fantasticks” at the Gem Theatre this summer seemed unadventurous, little more than an easy way to put people in the seats.

Management had promised “a fun-filled musical,” and what held more promise than reviving one of the world’s most frequently produced shows with its built-in reputation as a critic-proof crowd-pleaser?

You could hear murmurs that Stuart McDowell’s first programming decision as GroveShakespeare’s new artistic director was a sign of pandering to middle-brow taste while currying favor with a board of trustees eager for hits.

In fact, offering “The Fantasticks” does not take any special aesthetic courage, but staging it well does take a certain delicacy of touch. This is a show that begs for a fine balance between simplicity and irony, sincerity and nostalgia, wry comic finesse and rich theatrical flourish. This is a show that depends on style.

The production at the Gem, it is good to report, is very stylish. As directed by Susan D. Atkinson, it gets the full treatment. She has cast the show with a sharp eye for the available talent, drawn colorful performances from ideally matched players and set them all with the kind of seamless, flowing charm that makes you forget how much of a mannered chestnut this 1960 musical is.

Based on Edmond Rostand’s 1894 play, “Les Romanesques,” “The Fantasticks” is told entirely in verse or song and has the naive tone of a storybook parable that turns darker than expected in its bittersweet message about the price life extracts for romantic illusions.

The plot of this Tom Jones-Harvey Schmidt collaboration involves a boy, Matt (Scott Tuomey), and a girl, Luisa (Amy Griffin), who live next door to each other, separated by a garden wall under the light of a cardboard moon. Their fathers--Hucklebee (Charles Carroll) and Bellomy (Dan Collins)--have built the wall ostensibly to keep them apart but really to induce them to fall in love by making their union seem forbidden.

As a crowning fillip to guarantee the success of the romance, their fathers also hire a dashing bandit--El Gallo (Craig Oldfather). His job is to abduct Luisa for “a first-class rape” so that Matt can ride to her rescue, defeat El Gallo in a swashbuckling sword fight and thus become even more attractive in her eyes. (The Grove, using the innocuous original text, retains the references to rape and the song, “It Depends on What You Pay,” which describes El Gallo’s rates for various kinds of rape. Some productions omit the scene.)

All these moonlit machinations get a disillusioning jolt in the second act, however, which brings the ascent of a cardboard sun and with it the blistering light of reality.

Among the many endearing performances, Oldfather stands out as the production’s mock-heroic anchor with a sleek (though never slick) portrayal of the macho El Gallo. He is cast to type for his lean, dark, sharp-featured looks. But that’s just the starting point for the role, which requires witty acting to convey its combination of menace and dry humor.

Griffin, who looks like Tracey Ullman but prettier, shuns any notion of a wan Luisa. Although she endows the character with plenty of innocent grace, the keynotes of her performance are broad comic energy and a lusty singing voice. She leaves the languid effects to Tuomey, who plays Matt with a nerdy sense of the absurd.

For broad comedy, however, the highlight of the show arrives with Henry (Roger Axworthy) and Mortimer (Trance Thompson), a pair of unemployed Shakespearean thesps who attach themselves to El Gallo as fellow rapists. Henry is given to sudden outbursts from the Bard’s tragedies, amnesiac bits and pieces apropos of nothing, while Mortimer has a predilection for death scenes.

Axworthy delivers his non sequitur soliloquies with a glazed-over bewilderment that makes for a truly funny performance. Thompson also is a sheer delight who can die with all the acrobatic verve of an Injun being shot by wrong-way arrows in a stereotypical Hollywood Western.

Collins and Carroll lend delicious Fric-and-Frac support as the fathers. Pianist Kevin Weed brings real sophistication to the musical accompaniment. And the choreographed sequences do not betray any hesitations, including a risky number with a ladder (“Round and Round”) that climaxes the second act.

Not everything is perfect, of course. The singers are sometimes tone deaf. Also, with the exception of the show’s two most famous songs (“Try to Remember” and “Soon It’s Gonna Rain”), the score of “The Fantasticks” is not particularly memorable. Moreover, the connection between the plot and the role of the ever-present Mute (Daryl Mendelson) is not made clear, despite a lengthy preamble in which he clears the stage of nicely designed attic clutter.

Flaws notwithstanding, this is one revival of “The Fantasticks” that deserves to be a smash hit.

‘The Fantasticks’

Daryl Mendelson: Mute

Scott Tuomey: Matt

Amy Griffin: Luisa

Charles Carroll: Hucklebee

Dan Collins: Bellomy

Craig Oldfather: El Gallo

Trance Thompson: Mortimer

Roger Axworthy: Henry

A GroveShakespeare presentation of the musical by Tom Jones (book and lyrics) and Harvey Schmidt (music). Directed by Susan D. Atkinson. Scenic design by Robert Wyatt. Lighting design by Adrian M. Dickey. Costume design by Liz Hubner. Musical direction and piano accompaniment by Kevin Weed. Choreography by Dan Collins. Technical director: Michael Reese. Through Aug. 18 at the Gem Theatre, 12852 Main St., Garden Grove. Performances Wednesdays to Saturdays at 8 p.m.; Sundays at 3 and 7:30 p.m. $18 to $22. (714) 636-7213.