‘Beguiled Again’ Tripped Up by Silly Pranks

Lorenz Hart spent much of his life on the outside looking in. Jewish, gay and self-conscious about his looks, he yearned for so much more acceptance and love than he ever seemed to find.

That longing found its way into the lyrics he wrote to Richard Rodgers’ melodies, lending sweet ache to such songs as “My Funny Valentine,” “Bewitched” and “Isn’t It Romantic.”

These tunes--along with “The Lady Is a Tramp,” “Ten Cents a Dance,” “Blue Moon,” “Falling in Love With Love” and so many more--richly deserve to be showcased in a musical revue, but “Beguiled Again,” presented by International City Theatre in Long Beach, isn’t it.

Wrongheaded in too many ways, this project works against its material by surrounding the simple yet sophisticated songs with dopey shenanigans. When a show’s antics descend to de-pantsing one of the male singers to raise a cheap laugh, you realize it’s running dangerously low on ideas--and that’s something we wouldn’t have expected from director Jules Aaron, whose usually intelligent work includes recent productions of “Company” and “Merrily We Roll Along,” as well as last season’s more successful International City Theatre production of the Rodgers and Hammerstein revue “A Grand Night for Singing.”

The music itself is nicely accompanied by a three-piece instrumental combo, but the singing, though competent, is rarely inspired.

Taking its title from the lyrics to “Bewitched,” “Beguiled Again” presents more than 40 Rodgers and Hart tunes--often in truncated form--as solos, duets and group numbers by six singer-dancers. Culled from such shows as “A Connecticut Yankee,” “On Your Toes,” “Babes in Arms,” “The Boys From Syracuse” and “Pal Joey,” the songs date from the 1920s until Hart’s untimely death in 1943.

The framing devices include a song block of “Sing for Your Supper,” “With a Song in My Heart,” “This Is My Night to Howl,” “Manhattan” and “Mountain Greenery”--all shoe-horned into a radio program that appears to have been stolen wholesale from the show “The 1940’s Radio Hour.” Among the running gags is a hunch-shouldered, glasses-wearing, squeaky-voiced guy (Michal Connor) who, when he begins to sing, throws back his shoulders, pulls off the glasses and transforms into a heartthrob crooner. And there’s a tap break in which the “dance” is provided not by the singer but by a sound-effects man swatting a pair of tap shoes on a table. While some of this is fun, it overwhelms the songs, relegating them to the background.

Still more overpowering is a multi-song segment performed as one long group striptease, until the performers are doing a full-on bump-and-grind to the mock innocence of “You Took Advantage of Me.”

Now and again, however, “Beguiled Again”--first presented in 1997 in Florida--does get things right, as when it weaves phrases of “Little Girl Blue,” “Where or When,” “Nobody’s Chasing Me” and “Isn’t It Romantic” into a lush tapestry of sound.

In addition to Connor, the singers are Teri Ralston (an original Broadway cast member of “Company” and “A Little Night Music”), Dina Bennett, Tod Macofsky, Matthew McCray and Anneliese Van der Pol. The ever-sensitive and artful members of the instrumental combo are pianist Tom Griep, bassist Steve Bringelson and drummer Dave Lotfi.

Roger Castellano keeps the choreography simple, adding zest with such touches as Charleston-like kicked-up heels for the ‘20s tune “The Girl Friend.” Set designer Bradley Kaye dresses the stage elegantly yet unobtrusively with golden Art Deco accents--the sort of understatement that the rest of the show would do well to emulate.

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* “Beguiled Again,” Center Theater, Long Beach Performing Arts Center, 300 E. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Ends Dec. 10. $25-$35. (562) 436-4610. Running time: 2 hours.

Dina Bennett, Michal Connor, Tod Macofsky, Matthew McCray, Teri Ralston, Anneliese Van der Pol The Company

An International City Theatre production. Conceived by J. Barry Lewis, Lynnette Barkley and Craig D. Ames. Musical arrangements by Ames. Directed by Jules Aaron. Musical director: Bob Brandzel. Choreographer: Roger Castellano. Set: Bradley Kaye. Costumes: Diana Eden. Lights: Rand Ryan. Stage manager: Michael Alan Ankney.