‘Cat’ Out of the Bag at Ojai Center for the Arts

“Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” is classic Tennessee Williams--abundant with near-gothic Southern decadence, family secrets and several jiggers of alcohol. It’s the story of a family so dysfunctional that they make everybody feel better about their own.

Big Daddy, the richest cotton planter in Mississippi, is dying of cancer and his family is fighting over the inheritance--only alcoholic son Brick seems indifferent, much to the consternation of his wife, Maggie, who is already irritated by Brick’s unwillingness to make love to her.

For the current Ojai Center for the Arts production, director Seth Oserin has resurrected Williams’ early-’70s revision of his original 1955 script, in which some of the language has been updated to contemporary standards (or, some would say, lack of them).

Arnold Fadden dominates the stage, as Big Daddy should, with a clarion voice and commanding presence. Marissa Afton, as Maggie, deserves commendation for showing up last weekend despite a bad cold; that, coupled with a corn-pone accent thick as kudzu, made her all but impossible to understand during the first act, which is virtually a monologue. With luck, both conditions will have improved by this weekend.

As the play progresses, E. Miller McLean gathers strength in the role of troubled Brick. Buzz and Julie Cuccia are featured as Big Daddy’s other son, Gooper and his wife, Mae, with Marilyn Foote as long-suffering Big Mama.

* “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” continues through April 13 at the Ojai Center for the Arts, 113 S. Montgomery St. in Ojai. Shows are 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 4 p.m. Sunday. General admission is $12; $10, art center members and seniors; $7 children--though the show is recommended for mature audiences only. For reservations or further information, call 646-0117.

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The English-language translation of Franz Lehar’s classic operetta “The Merry Widow,” now playing at Moorpark College, is by Sheldon Harnick, the New York songwriter whose original credits include the lyrics for Broadway shows “She Loves Me” and “Fiddler on the Roof.”

The small middle-European country of Pontevedro is nearing bankruptcy, and Baron Zeta, ambassador to Paris, sees a solution in the wealthy widow Hanna Glawari. If she marries playboy Count Danilo, the money will be in Pontevedran hands. In the meantime, the wealthy and desirable Hanna has many other suitors, all of them unsuitably French.

Lynn Youngren and Leslie Mauldin alternate as Hanna, with James Kirkland as Count Danilo. As scheming Baron Zeta, Gabriel Vega Jr. is aided (if that’s the word) by Jeff Wallach as embassy adjutant Nish. Zata calls Nish “the biggest idiot in the embassy,” but he may be underestimating himself, witness a subplot involving his utter ignorance of his wife’s (Carmen Reeker or Julie Robles) less-than-clandestine romantic affair.

All of this is sung and acted with great brio by a cast of nearly 30, all lavishly costumed. Director Marilyn Anderson’s work is, as usual, exemplary. The music (orchestral parts prerecorded) is lovely; the dance numbers choreographed by Kristy Roy Tapp and Wallach are performed with enthusiasm--a highlight is the comic “Little Man, You Have Met Your Match.” (The best known song here is “Music Says It Simply,” better known as “The Merry Widow Waltz.”)

* “The Merry Widow” continues through Sunday at the Moorpark College Performing Arts Center, on Collins Drive (off the 118 Freeway) in Moorpark. Performances are 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $10 general admission; $8 students; $6 seniors and children under 12. For reservations or further information, call 378-1485.

Casting Call: Director Rebecca Hanes is auditioning those 50 and over for the roles of Charlie Brown, Schroeder and Peppermint Patty in Comedy Tonight Productions’ “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.” Auditions will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. Monday, at the Ojai Center for the Arts (113 S. Montgomery St.) and 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday at the Arts Center of the Conejo Valley (482 Greenmeadow Road in Thousand Oaks). Be prepared to read, sing and dance (an accompanist will be provided; bring sheet music in your key). For information, call producer Gabriel Vega at 389-3193.

Auditions for the Conejo Players’ upcoming production of “Mr. Roberts” will begin at 5:30 p.m. April 7 and 7:30 p.m. April 8 and 9, at the Players’ theater, 351 S. Moorpark Road in Thousand Oaks. For information, call 492-8028 or (818) 706-3189.