THEATER REVIEWS / ‘STEEL MAGNOLIAS’ : Dinner and Drama : This version sticks close to the molasses and honeysuckle its author envisioned--its characters don’t match the movie’s.

The title “Hair” had already been taken. So playwright Robert Harling was forced to use “Steel Magnolias” as the title of his study of six northern Louisiana women who seem to spend virtually all of their time in the local hairdresser’s shop.

The 1987 play, which became a movie starring Dolly Parton and Julia Roberts, is currently playing at the Faye Renee Dinner Theatre, at Ottavio’s Banquet Facilities in Camarillo.

It’s a good production, tightly scripted and performed without a bit of fat by a skilled and appealing cast under the direction of John Hulette. One warning, though: don’t fall into the easy trap of trying to figure out which actress played each character in the film version; it’ll drive you crazy and distract you from a group of actors who are probably a lot closer to Harling’s real-life prototypes than Dolly, Julia, Olympia Dukakis, Sally Field, Shirley MacLaine and Daryl Hannah. (The film version added several male characters who do not appear in the play).

“Don’t skimp on anything,” the shop’s owner, Truvy Jones, cautions the New Stylist in Town. “Feel free to use as much hair spray as you want.” Such is Harling’s view of the South, dripping so much molasses and honeysuckle that it makes “Designing Women” look like it takes place in Jersey City.

While Harling tosses in just about every Southern stereotype that exists, these women aren’t as superficial as they at first seem. And by the end of the evening, the characters have lived up to the play’s title; they show so much strength and resilience in the face of tragedy that members of the dinner theater audience may be sobbing in their sherbet.

Virginia Bingham-Herman plays Truvy Jones, the beauty shop owner and the play’s central character; “central” as in the eye of a hurricane, around whom everything and everybody else revolves.

Gail James is Annelle Depuy-DeSoto, the new stylist who is the audience’s surrogate as long-standing relationships are explained to her. (As you’ve noticed, no character in this play has a conventional name like “Mary” or “Susan.”)

Catherine Best plays bride-to-be Shelby Eatenton-Latcherie, with Jennifer Leonard as her mother, M’Lynn, and Rosemary DeLeonardis and Mary Lee Hulette play a couple of local women, the wealthy Clairee Belcher and cocky Ouiser Boudreaux.

As in the Faye Renee group’s last production, “The Foreigner,” everybody here gets an opportunity to approximate a Southern accent, and pretty nearly everybody gets at least one Big Dramatic Moment. Except for a few fumbled lines at the opening night performance, they were all terrific.

Tom Murry’s set is fine, and the costumes chosen for the cast by Mary Lee Hulette show a finely tuned sense of down-home tack without going overboard.

And the hair! The hair! It is, as Duke Ellington used to say, “beyond category.”

* WHERE AND WHEN

“Steel Magnolias” continues Thursday through Saturday nights through Oct. 17 at the Faye Renee Dinner Theatre, Ottavio’s Banquet Facilities, 340 N. Mobil Ave., Camarillo. Thursday and Friday performances, which include a pasta buffet dinner, are $25; Saturday’s shows, with what’s advertised as “an elegant sit-down dinner,” are $35 per person. Group rates are available. Dinner, nonalcoholic beverage, dessert, tax and gratuity are included; a no-host bar is available. Doors open at 6 p.m. Thursday, with dinner at 6:45 and an 8 p.m. curtain; doors open Friday and Saturday nights at 6:30, with dinner at 7:15 and an 8:30 curtain. For reservations or further information, call 484-9909.

CASTING CALL / AUDITIONS

The Santa Paula Theater Center will hold auditions for its upcoming production of George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart’s venerable farce “You Can’t Take It With You” beginning next Tuesday. Auditions will continue on Thursday, Sept. 17 and Saturday, Sept. 19. The cast includes seven women between 21 and 55 years old, and 12 men between ages 24 and 75.

Tuesday and Thursday’s auditions will be held from 7 to 10 p.m. at the Unitarian-Universalist Church, 740 E. Main St. in Santa Paula. Saturday’s audition will take place at the Santa Paula Theater Center, 127 S. 7th St., between 2:30 and 5:30 p.m. Actors are requested to call the theater at 525-4645 to line up an audition appointment.

Director Apollo Dukakis would like the actors to read the play before auditioning. A limited number of copies are available at Mr. Nichols Bookstore and Gallery in Santa Paula, and the play--not exactly obscure--should also be available at any public library.

“You Can’t Take It With You” will run from Nov. 5 to Dec. 13.

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The Cabrillo Music Theatre will hold auditions for its upcoming production of the musical “Annie” on Sept. 19, 21 and 22. The huge cast calls for actors from 6 to 60 years old and a dog. The company is looking for ethnic diversity.

All auditions will be held at the Dorill B. Wright Cultural Center, 575 Surfside Drive in Port Hueneme. Auditions for Sandy (the dog) will take place at noon Sept. 19, followed by the children’s auditions from 1 to 5 p.m. Adult actors will be heard Sept. 21 and 22 at 6:30 p.m.

Those auditioning are asked to bring sheet music in the proper key, limit the song to one minute, and dress in clothing suitable for a dance audition. The production, directed by Tam Warner and choreographed by John Charron, takes the place of the previously announced “Peter Pan” on the Cabrillo group’s schedule, and will open Nov. 13.

For further information, call the Cabrillo Music Theatre at 483-8859.