The big droll engine that could

Life is like a train, we’re told in “On the Twentieth Century.” And this 1978 musical is set on a train. But any resemblances to most people’s lives are few and fleeting.

The show is a resolutely artificial contraption that seems sooo 20th century. It’s set in the 1930s, and much of its music sounds as if it were composed before then.

Composer Cy Coleman didn’t want to write a pastiche ‘30s score. Because the characters are larger than life in an operatic way, he set out to write a comic opera. The result is a blithe combination of bouffe and Broadway.

The show often is more affectionately droll than actually funny. At nearly three hours, the spoofing tone becomes a bit strained. Nevertheless, it’s in good hands in David Lee’s staging for Reprise! at the Freud Playhouse.

Adolph Green and Betty Comden adapted a story of two toweringly vain personalities: the Broadway producer Oscar Jaffee (Bob Gunton) and the young woman whom he turned into a star, giving her the stage name of Lily Garland (Carolee Carmello).

We glimpse all of this in a flashback. Now the two loathe each other, and their positions have changed. Oscar is fleeing Chicago after a show tanked, and Lily is a glamorous Hollywood star. They re-unite on the ritzy Twentieth Century train, bound for New York.

Oscar, accompanied by his henchmen Owen (Dan Butler) and Oliver (Robert Picardo), needs Lily’s star power for his next production if he is to get back on track. Lily is escorted by her latest movie’s leading man, Bruce Granit (Damon Kirsche), and they engage in supposedly passionate clenches at every opportunity. But we soon discern that, like everything else in this show, it’s mostly play-acting.

Also on board is a “religious nut” and industrial magnate, Letitia Primrose (Mimi Hines), who might offer the backing for Oscar’s next production if its subject is sufficiently devout. Will the story of Mary Magdalene do the job?

Musical theater actors love this show. They get to go over the top and then some, making fun of their own profession’s pretensions. This may seem somewhat insular for a general audience. But it should go over well at Reprise!, a home for presumably seldom-seen musicals.

Gunton’s Oscar enters the train through a window, his hat lost to the wind, his hair unkempt, but he immediately assumes control, fuming and sneering in high style. His voice fits the role perfectly.

Carmello, who won an Ovation Award for her “Bells Are Ringing” for Reprise!, matches Gunton in every flirting gesture, every ruse, every temperamental explosion, never flinching at the role’s florid vocal demands.

The big cast plays the collection of ‘30s types with glee. The harmonies of a quartet of train porters (David Jennings, Adam Lambert, John Lathan, Don Lucas) are among the show’s musical highlights, with their aforementioned “Life Is Like a Train” number moved from the entr’acte to the finale for this production. Bradley Kaye’s streamlined set adds a few amusing little punctuation marks.

A 1998 revival of the show in Los Angeles by the Colony Theatre attracted its own acclaim, but this rendition has one clear-cut advantage: an onstage orchestra of 24, which gives much greater glory to Coleman’s lush score and Hershy Kay’s orchestrations. It’s the largest band Reprise! has assembled at the Freud. An anonymous donor provided the necessary funds.

Musical director Gerald Sternbach and his troops make the most of the opportunity. Sternbach occasionally is inserted into the action with deft little staging strokes.

*

‘On the Twentieth Century’

Where: Freud Playhouse, Macgowan Hall, UCLA, off Hilgard Avenue, south of Sunset Boulevard

When: Tuesdays-Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 and 7 p.m.

Ends: Feb. 2

Price: $50-$60

Contact: (310) 825-2101

Running Time: 2 hours, 45 minutes

Bob Gunton...Oscar Jaffee

Carolee Carmello...Lily Garland

Dan Butler...Owen O’Malley

Robert Picardo...Oliver Webb

Mimi Hines...Letitia Primrose

Damon Kirsche...Bruce Granit

Bob Lauder Jr....Conductor Flanagan

Greg Zerkle...Congressman Lockwood

Teressa Byrne...Anita

Perry Lambert...Maxwell Finch

Mary VanArsdel...Imelda Thornton

Richard Israel...Max Jacobs

Diane Vincent...Agnes

Susanne Blakeslee...Dr. Johnson

Book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. Music by Cy Coleman. Orchestrations by Hershy Kay. Based on plays by Ben Hecht, Charles MacArthur, Bruce Millholland. Directed by David Lee. Choreographed by Kay Cole. Musical direction by Gerald Sternbach. Sets by Bradley Kaye. Costumes by Randy Gardell. Lighting by Tom Ruzika. Sound by Philip G. Allen. Stage manager Jill Gold.