'Curtains' old-fashioned charm takes center stage

Not long ago, when a hit Broadway musical made its regional bow in the Chicago area, the premiere typically could only happen in Lincolnshire's Marriott Theatre.

That's no longer the case.

The rights to the first regional production of "Curtains" - composer John Kander's and lyricist Fred Ebb's musical within a musical wrapped around a whodunit - went to Oak Brook's Drury Lane Theatre, further proof that producer Kyle De Santis' efforts to reinvigorate and raise the profile of the West Suburban mainstay are paying off.

In spades.

Besides its top-tier cast and premier music director (Doug Peck, leading a compact but mighty orchestra), this production marks the Drury Lane debut of director William Brown. "Curtains" also marks the accomplished director's first foray into musical theater. Hard to believe. From the looks of this seemingly effortless, unselfconscious affair, you'd have thought he'd been at it for years.

The pleasantly wacky albeit long-winded final collaboration from the duo responsible for "Cabaret" and "Chicago" (to which it subtly tips its fedora), "Curtains" suffered some serious setbacks before it opened on Broadway in 2007. The original writer, Peter Stone ("My One and Only," "The Will Rogers Follies") died in 2003. He was replaced by Rupert Holmes ("The Mystery of Edwin Drood"), who wrote the book and some of the lyrics following the death of Ebb in 2004.

As a sendup and homage to both musicals and murder mysteries, "Curtains" lacks the whimsy of "The Drowsy Chaperone" and the giddy abandon of "Urinetown." Purists will question its plotting, which relies on a contrivance no self-respecting mystery writer would employ. Yet songs like the anthemic "Show People," the touching "I Miss the Music" (especially resonant in the wake of Ebb's death) and the sly "Thataway" make for a tuneful show that delivers more than its fair share of laughs, most of them in the form of innuendo and inside showbiz one-liners. Frankly, one of the best things about Drury Lane's production has to be its razor-sharp timing. The zingers fly. Better still, the affection is genuine for this valentine to show business and the people who make it their business.

The action unfolds in 1955 in Boston's Colonial Theatre, where tough cookie producer Carmen Bernstein (a sassy, brassy Nancy Voigts) and her mousy backer Oscar (the nicely nebbishy Mark David Kaplan) debuted their new, Broadway-bound show, a poor-man's "Oklahoma" titled "Robbin' Hood! A New Musical of the Old West."

Scathing reviews put the show's future in doubt. What's more, the show's supremely untalented leading lady (a terrific, too-brief cameo by Paula Scrofano) dies (literally) on opening night. This prompts the self-centered, vaguely dismissive and very British director Christopher Belling (the perfectly droll John Reeger in a perfectly timed performance) to appoint the show's lyricist Georgia Hendricks (Christine Sherrill, a potent mezzo) to take over the lead. The change doesn't sit well with Georgia's former husband and estranged collaborator, composer Aaron Fox (James Rank in classic leading man mode) or ambitious chorus girl Bambi Bernet (Nicole Hren). But the floundering show is the least of their worries once the star turns up dead. Enter likable, musical-loving gumshoe Lt. Frank Cioffi - "putting on a musical has got to be the most fulfilling thing a person can do!" - played by the ingenuous and ever-versatile Sean Fortunato, as a suave version of Columbo. Frank arrives to investigate a murder and ends up retooling the show and falling for its ingénue Niki Harris (the altogether affable Jessie Mueller, who's just sweet enough).

Also deserving mention are Debbie Baer's spiffy 1950s costumes, Keith Pitts' backstage set (not to mention his frontier town saloon and prairie vistas) and the easy grace of Linda Fortunato's choreography, especially evident in the charming Fortunato-Mueller pas de deux, "Tough Act to Follow."

The same might be said for Drury Lane.