Ken Ludwig is the master of the middlebrow well-made play. Lend Me a Tenor, his most successful work, won three Tony Awards in 1989, including Best Play, and has become a staple of regional and community theatre. His book for the musical, Crazy For You, delighted audiences by being a new story that cleverly incorporated songs by George and Ira Gershwin, and it sparked the phenomenon known as the “jukebox musical.” As clever as some of those works might be (Momma Mia, Jersey Boys), Ludwig has them topped.

Moon Over Buffalo, which is being presented through March 22 by Moonlight Stage Productions, is Ludwig’s follow-up to Lend Me a Tenor. It was written as a vehicle for Carol Burnett to return to the Broadway stage after a 30 year absence, and it enjoyed a respectable run during the 1995-96 season. It’s a solidly constructed classical farce, and it has the feeling of something that might come from the pens of screwball comedy writers such as George S. Kauffman and Moss Hart. Well-made, yes; up-to-date, no.

Jill Drexler and Nils Anderson

^{Photo credit: Ken Jacques Photography}

The plot is classic: an aging matinee idol and his actress wife have been touring smaller cities and towns doing classics such as Cyrano de Bergerac and Noel Coward’s Private Lives. It is the 1950s, and they are not the Lunts, not even close, but they still have their dreams of fame. Like many acting couples of the day, George and Charlotte Hay (Nils Anderson and Jill Drexler) have worked both on stage and in films, though never in “prestige” films. In fact, they have both recently been passed over for Frank Capra’s latest outing.

The troupe is performing a two-week run in Buffalo as the play opens. A performance of Cyrano has just ended, and the Hays’ daughter, Rosalind (Theresa Layne) has arrived unannounced. Rosalind, who has been touring with her parents for her entire life, has grown tired of the theatre and plans to introduce them to Howard (Howard Bickle, Jr.), her fiancé. Howard is a television weatherman, and, of course, television as an entertainment form is in the process of ruining the kind of touring repertory companies such as the one operated by the Hays. Of course, the Hays’ problems are not only financial: Eileen (Stacy Huffington), the company’s ingénue, has announced that she is pregnant by George, Charlotte is being wooed by Richard, a big-time entertainment lawyer who nevertheless still manages to do the legal work for the troupe, and Rosalind discovers that Paul (Danny Blaylock), her ex, has returned to the company without her knowledge. Hovering in the background is Ethel (Patricia Sullivan), George’s cranky, coffee-addicted mother, who doubles as the costumer and who may or may not have her hearing aids turned on.

And then, of course, there is the McGuffin that sets the plot in motion: word comes that Ronald Coleman has broken both of his legs (a theatre joke, get it?) on the set of the Frank Capra film, and Capra, who needs to re-cast the role, is flying to Buffalo to watch George perform.

So, you’re reading this review, and you have no idea who Kauffman and Hart, Noel Coward, the Lunts, Frank Capra, or a McGuffin might be. Maybe you’ve heard of Cyrano de Bergerac, and maybe, just maybe, you know that Rosalind is the heroine of that play. And, your idea of a company touring a classic might be the umpteenth bus-and-truck production of Grease, or a production of Rent featuring the (aging) original stars. Are you going to like this show?

The answer is yes, as long as you can put aside the fact that most of the audience will be old enough to know many of these references. The kind of classic farce that Ludwig writes, when done well, appeals to anyone who likes to laugh. And, Moon Over Buffalo has all the right elements: a set with lots of doors so that characters can just miss each other, a bunch of over-the-top personalities, and a lot of mistaken identity and mixed up facts that add to the (mostly) controlled mayhem.

Eric Bishop’s production took a little while to get going on opening weekend. Act 1 is supposed to introduce the characters, the situation, and warm the audience up for the hilarity that follows as the plot begins to unravel in Act 2. Several in the cast seemed to need some warming up, themselves, both vocally and physically, while others were substituting shouting for controlled energy. But, things got cooking in Act 2, and the company, which consisted of a bunch of cut-up meat and vegetables in Act 1, turned all of those disparate elements into a tasty and satisfying Act 2 goulash.

Moon Over Buffalo, presented by Moonlight Stage Productions at the Avo Playhouse. Directed by Eric Bishop, Scenic Design by N. Dixon Fish, Lighting Design by Paul A. Canaletti, Jr., Sound Design by Chris Luessman, Costume Design by Roslyn Lehman, Properties Design by Bonnie Durben, and Fight Choreography by Christopher Williams. With Nis Anderson, Jill Drexler, Patricia Sullivan, Theresa Layne, Howard Bickle, Jr., Stacy Huntington, Danny Blaylock, and Gregory Hall. Performs through March 22 Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30pm, and Saturdays and Sundays at 2:00pm. Tickets available at the VisTix Ticket Office, 600 Eucalyptus Avenue, Vista, by phone