‘Inspector General,’ by Way of ‘Superstar’

Director-adapter Michael Schlitt’s version of “The Inspector General,” Nikolai Gogol’s tale of mistaken identity in 19th century czarist Russia, inhabits the realm of the absurd, peopled with grotesque human monsters.

As presented at the Actors’ Gang, its results are mixed: a well-considered, elegantly hilarious first act followed by an unrestrained, excessively indulgent second act. A tighter second half would really lift this well-acted interpretation into absurdist heaven.

On a dark, stormy night, rumors reach the Mayor (V.J. Foster) that an inspector general traveling incognito is going to visit the town. The corrupt town leaders--the Judge (Jim Boyce), the Postmaster (Gary Kelley), the Director of Charities (Steven M. Porter) and the Superintendent of Schools (Dean Robinson)--mistake the ne’er-do-well St. Petersburg dandy Khlestakov (Bill Cusack) for the government official. Khlestakov becomes the toast of the town, with the screeching Mayor’s Wife (Kate Mulligan) and his squealing daughter (Evie Peck) clawing in competition for his amorous attentions.

The addition of a death scene for the merchant Abdulin (Michael Rivkin alternating with Joe Grimm) and a rap song about Abdulin’s fate--performed by the mayor, his wife and daughter with the haloed Abdulin in the background in a scene reminiscent of “Jesus Christ Superstar”--are among the contrivances that bog down the flow of the second act.

An assortment of white-faced characters skitter about in Keiko Shimosato’s delightfully farcical costumes, running and rolling around Daniel Nyiri’s black-and-white skewed set and through the oddly angled doors.

That the production ends with a redeeming bang, despite the messy second act, is largely due to Nyiri and Schlitt’s flair for the dramatic.

*

* “The Inspector General,” Actors’ Gang, 6209 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood. Thursdays-Sundays, 8 p.m. Ends Oct. 31. $15. (213) 660-8587. Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes.