Thickening the plot for Rhett and Scarlett

As Hollywood legend has it, “Gone With the Wind” went into production without a workable script. In desperation, David O. Selznick, the film’s maverick producer, stopped production and hired famous script doctor Ben Hecht to distill Margaret Mitchell’s beloved but attenuated tale into filmable form. With the stalled project costing him a then-astronomical $50,000 a day, Selznick locked himself, Hecht and newly hired director Victor Fleming in a room for five days, refusing to let anyone out until they had a viable scenario.

That true-life incident forms the basis for Ron Hutchinson’s “Moonlight and Magnolias,” now at the Odyssey. It’s a fruitful premise with plum roles for its three main actors, who under the direction of Scott Cummins exploit Hutchinson’s high concept and mordant dialogue to frequently hilarious effect. Unfortunately, Hutchinson inexplicably burdens his comedy with “meaningful” information about the plight of Jews in the Hollywood film industry -- material that seems oddly inorganic in this comedic context, despite Hutchinson’s attempts to link it to Mitchell’s paean to the antebellum South.

Cummins has an obvious talent for composition and pacing, but fumbles in helping some of his actors nail down their characters. Rob Nagle plays Selznick with just the right glint of zealotry in his calculating eye, although we fail to glimpse the street fighter under Selznick’s professorial exterior. Kip Gilman is pitch-perfect as the cynical Hecht, a wordsmith dismayed at the utter pap he has to convert into deathless drama. Greg Mullavey has some nice comic moments, but his compact stature and fidgety manner seem out of place for Fleming, who was by all accounts a strapping macho man. And Lynda Lenet, in her lesser role as Selznick’s secretary, never explores the real person beneath the funny hair and adenoidal accent.

-- F. Kathleen Foley

“Moonlight and Magnolias,” Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles. 8 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays. Call for exceptions. Ends Nov. 5. $20.50-$25. (310) 477-2055. www.odysseytheatre.com. Running time: 2 hours.

*

Leopold and Loeb, the musical

The vivid and the uneven coexist in the West Coast premiere of “Thrill Me: The Leopold and Loeb Story.” Stephen Dolginoff’s chamber tuner about the infamous ‘20s killers offers notable post-Sondheim craft, but the inaugural production of Theatre Out in Fullerton proves more promising than thrilling.

Nominated for two 2006 Drama Desk Awards, “Thrill Me” examines the psychosexual dynamic of its collegiate antiheroes. Framed by a 1958 parole hearing for Nathan Leopold (Lee Kociela), the saga of how he and Richard Loeb (Jason Lythgoe) in 1924 conspired to murder young Bobby Franks for the amoral rush of it emerges through ironically creepy numbers.

Such as “Nothing Like a Fire,” a tender salute to arson, or “A Written Contract,” a blood-pact duet drawn with Marc Blitzstein strokes. The high points are the unnervingly beautiful “Roadster” -- Loeb lures the unseen victim into his car -- and the mordant climax, “Life Plus 99 Years.”

Dolginoff’s compositional talent is evident, and musical director Deb Barker-Garcia heroically exploits his running figures and melodic motifs, although they grow repetitive. His skills as librettist and lyricist are more erratic -- here assured, there awkward. Apart from some factual fudging for romance’s sake, the pair’s twisted passion serves thematic statement more than dramatic impulse. When lyrics like “I’ll do what you want me to/ There’s no me if there’s no you” keep intruding, involvement wanes.

Kociela, light-toned and nervy, and the imposing, patrician-featured Lythgoe are tireless, but there is little physical sizzle between them. Neither they nor director Jack Millis and the designers achieve much beyond respectable competence. Devotees of this much-dramatized case and supporters of gay theater may find value here, but “Thrill Me” it did not.

-- David C. Nichols

“Thrill Me: The Leopold and Loeb Story,” Theatre Out, 699-A S. State College Blvd., College Business Park, Fullerton. 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 7 p.m. Sundays. Ends Sept. 24. $18. (714) 826-8700. Running time: 1 hour, 15 minutes.

*

An earnest effort at drug drama

First produced in the mid-1990s, Kenneth Lonergan’s “This Is Our Youth” gained acclaim as a biting drama about directionless, drug-fueled Manhattan rich kids.

Initially set in the early days of the Reagan administration, the play has been updated to the present day in its current run at the Actor’s Playpen. That new time period works surprisingly well, but otherwise, the production misfires.

Director Danilo Di Julio helms an earnest young cast, which includes Jason Ciok as Dennis Ziegler, a hostile young drug dealer whose best friend is Warren Straub (David Huynh), an inveterate screw-up who has just stolen $15,000 from his abusive father. Kim Kutner plays Jessica Goldman, an alienated young woman who briefly hooks up with the needy Warren.

From performances to production elements, the staging has a rudimentary quality more appropriate to a workshop than a fully fledged professional staging. Still, one’s sympathies go out to the perpetrators, who have obviously badly misjudged their own level of preparedness.

-- F.K.F.

“This Is Our Youth,” Actor’s Playpen, 1514 N. Gardner St., Los Angeles. 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Ends Oct. 7. $15. (323) 848-2184. Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes.