Stages Takes Delightful Peek Backstage

Stages, that upstart theater group that began as an underground theater in an industrial park in Anaheim, has moved into new quarters in Fullerton. When you’re trying to make an impression in a new society, it helps to dress well. That’s exactly what the company has done.

Not only have the troupe members created a smart new venue, one of the most comfortable small theaters in the area, but they’re reviving their sterling production of Terrence McNally’s charming comedy “It’s Only a Play,” about the opening-night party of a Broadway bomb.

An up-to-date tale, similar to Moss Hart’s 1948 “Light Up the Sky,” McNally’s look at opening-night jitters generates the same laughs, but his current references are sharper, cattier and very much on a ‘90s wavelength.

The show-biz types don’t change. From the star to the director to the playwright, the flamboyance, the terror of rejection and the gleeful willingness to pass the buck for failure all seem to be inherited from one theatrical generation to the next.

Patrick Gwaltney is a delight as James Whicker, the self-centered star of a television series who flies to New York for the Broadway opening of a play by his best friend, who had written the off-off-Broadway play that made Whicker a star several years before. Their friendship has been extremely close.

Adam Clark provides a virtuoso turn as playwright Peter Austin, hilarious in his self-destructive paranoia. The underlying depth of their relationship is hinted at but never overplayed.

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That’s the secret of director Amanda DeMaio’s grasp of the broad comedy of the play. She allows her cast to approach the borderline of overplaying, but never allows them to go beyond what their characters would do in real life. Her sense of timing and of the subtle rhythms that alter from moment to moment are impeccable.

Anyone who has ever been backstage will recognize the outrageous star of the production, Virginia Noyes, played with abandon but sure control by Cynthia Ryanen. They’ll also recognize the twisted logic of avant-garde director Frank Finger, given a dark and always amusing underside by K.C. Mercer.

Tracy Perdue provides a sly comment on the inexperienced, moneyed, first-time producer Julia Budder. As the naive Midwestern actress wannabe who has been hired to fetch coats and serve drinks, Mo Arii shows sincerity and dash that work beautifully.

A critic might get upset over McNally’s twisted portrait of a twisted critic, but Ira Drew’s type does exist, and David Amitin translates Drew’s slime into a lot of laughs.

The cabdriver who fetches the New York Times review is another true type. He’s never been to the theater but knows as much about it as the pros, and Gavin Carlton generally hits the stereotype on the head with his performance.

* “It’s Only a Play,” Stages, 400 E. Commonwealth Ave., Fullerton. 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 6 p.m. Sunday. $12. Ends Sept 5. (714) 525-4484. Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes.