THEATER REVIEW : Production’s Tenor Is Farce and Furious

Ken Ludwig’s hit Broadway farce “Lend Me a Tenor” borrows from the French farceur Feydeau but doesn’t have the master’s obligatory seven doors.

There are only five in the 1934 Cleveland hotel suite where the action takes place, surrounding a performance of the Cleveland Grand Opera that barely misses being a disaster.

The play is also missing a couple of the cylinders that help fuel a true farce. There are some dull moments not filled with mayhem, and a couple of gags run out of gas.

But this production on the Long Beach Playhouse’s main stage has advantages that help keep the engine running in a laugh-provoking gear.

One is the bright tempo that director Darlene Hunter-Chaffee keeps constant. She has also been able to infuse her cast with the spirit of having fun, a feeling that spills into the audience. The actors look like they’re having a ball--a comic ingredient that never misses.

The cast has also been held in check and never tries to make anything funny. They are so sincere in their every moment that Ludwig’s humor is allowed full sway.

Most important to the production’s success are the three central figures: Saunders (Ray Fulmer), general manager of the Grand Opera; his gofer and assistant Max (Jonathan Kass), and the visiting Italian tenor Tito Merelli (John Del Gatto). There is no misstep in their performances.

Kass has that sure comic sense that never allows his audience to see him being comic. He is funny without losing his romantic appeal in a role that requires these opposites.

Fulmer’s calm authority even when his character is at the end of his rope also hides a sure technique, and Del Gatto’s volatile tenor maintains a semblance of sanity in spite of the insanity around him.

Also, though both Kass and Del Gatto obviously are not opera singers, they approximate same with daring and aplomb during the Don Carlo aria with which Merelli coaches the tyro Max.

Sandra Gordon is delightful as Saunders’ daughter Maggie, who really loves Max but is seething to gain experience with Merelli. Mark Schuliger makes opera-buff Bellhop a charming, amusing thorn in everybody’s side.

Laura Jackson as the soprano who is supposed to sing opposite Merelli, but winds up with Max, Leslie Allen as the chair of the Opera Guild, and Giovanna Fusco as Tito’s fiery, jealous wife, all handle their chores brightly and with flair.

Bob Kokol’s set achieves a triumph of its own on the playhouse’s long thrust stage, looking just right as a period hotel suite and giving the actors’ mad dashings enough distance to make their panic seem real.

*

“Lend Me a Tenor,” Long Beach Playhouse, 5021 E. Anaheim St., Long Beach. Friday-Saturday, 8 p.m. $10. (310) 494-1616. Running time: 2 hours, 1 5 minutes.

Jonathan Kass: Max

Sandra Gordon: Maggie

Ray Fulmer: Saunders

John Del Gatto: Tito Merelli

Giovanna Fusco: Maria

Mark Schuliger: Bellhop

Laura Jackson: Diana

Leslie Allen: Julia

A Long Beach Playhouse production of the Ken Ludwig farce. Directed by Darlene Hunter-Chaffee. Scenic design: Bob Kokol. Costume design: Linda Lane. Lighting design: Laura Jones. Stage managers: Maria Bercovitz/Lynne Kass.