Arsenic Spiked, Lace-Dressed Comedy

Outre in its day, Joseph Kesselring’s 1940 comedy “Arsenic and Old Lace” maintains a degree of charm, though its gothic quirkiness seems mild today. All the same, William Bickley’s solid staging at the Falcon Theatre shores up the creaky plot.

Cary Grant’s screwball portrayal of Mortimer Brewster in Frank Capra’s 1944 film looms ineradicably in the memory. Lacking Grant’s suavity, Shaun O’Hagan brings a raw-boned physicality to the role that gibes well with its slapstick requirements.

Ken Lerner plays Jonathan, Mortimer’s psycho brother, with glowering aplomb, but his supposed resemblance to Boris Karloff is enduringly problematic. Unrecognizable with white hair and German accent, Richard Kline does sound character work as Einstein, Jonathan’s criminal sidekick. Jane Morris and Joan Darling are pleasingly dotty as Mortimer’s elderly aunts, lovable serial slayers who delight in dispatching their lonely gentlemen roomers to their reward--not to mention an honored place in their well-populated cellar cemetery.

A perfectly preserved time capsule of the Brewster sisters’ Victorian upbringing, Lynn Griffin’s set, well lit by Marianne Schneller, is meticulously realized, as are Allison Achauer’s costumes.

Although Bickley attacks the proceedings with a light hand and able cast, this production remains a Victorian tintype, a handsome relic whose time has come and gone.

*

* “Arsenic and Old Lace,” Falcon Theatre, 4252 Riverside Drive, Burbank. Wednesdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3 p.m. Ends April 11. $22-$30. (818) 955-8101. Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes.