‘Born Yesterday’ reborn

IF YOU GO

* WHAT: “Born Yesterday”

* WHERE: South Coast Repertory Segerstrom Stage, 655 Town Center Drive,

Costa Mesa

* WHEN: Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m., Wednesdays through Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays

at 2:30 and 8 p.m., Sundays at 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. until Nov. 20

* COST: $20-$58

* CONTACT: (714) 708-5555

Approaching its 60th birthday, Garson Kanin’s “Born Yesterday” might be considered passe, dealing as it does with opportunism and corruption immediately following World War II. But when fully dressed and charged with megawatts of comic electricity, the play might as well have been written, well, yesterday.

At South Coast Repertory -- which rarely indulges in plays, especially comedies, that have been produced frequently at the community level -- the current revival of “Born Yesterday” is a joyous event. I found myself laughing out loud at lines I was intimately familiar with, having both acted in and directed this play in the past.

Director Warner Shook, who recently staged the comedy in San Francisco, has transplanted his three leading performers from that production to SCR’s Segerstrom Stage, and their familiarity with their roles is quite obvious. The dialogue crackles with comic intensity, except for moments when they strive to apply some extra punch to a punch line, overstating Kanin’s wit. Fortunately, this line between comedy and farce is infrequently crossed.

“Born Yesterday” focuses on a millionaire junk dealer, Harry Brock, who arrives in Washington D.C. seeking to “buy himself a senator” for one of his slightly- below-the- ethical- radar schemes. He’s accompan- ied by his gorgeous mistress, Billie Dawn, who’s loaded with street smarts, but is an intellectual cipher -- and an embarrassment to Brock’s upwardly mobile game plan.

To “smarten her up,” Brock hires a National Review columnist, Paul Verrall, a bespectacled intellectual who’s immediately attracted to Billie, and vice versa.

But soon the saying “a little learning is a dangerous thing” becomes painful reality, at least to Brock and his cronies.

Jennifer Lyon is a traffic-stopping blond bombshell as Billie, eliciting laughs simply by jiggling her obvious assets. She delivers her ditzy character’s lines with aplomb, though overplaying a few of them for added effect. Her “learning process” is beautifully portrayed, as is her attack of conscience when she realizes her role in Brock’s underhanded dealings.

As the equally uneducated but thoroughly dominant Brock, Richard Ziman -- bald, burly and bull-headed -- bulldozes his way through the show, living, as he is described, “at the top of his voice.” That voice may be in danger, however, since previous performances of roaring have left his tones raspy, neutralizing the effect of his interpretation, which stirs memories of the ‘50s character actor Mickey Shaughnessy, only with more menace.

Paul Morgan Stetler skillfully glides into his role as the reporter charged with igniting Billie’s intellectual fire. Stetler’s deft, understated approach is all the more effective when contrasted with his fiery denunciation of Brock late in the play. As the lone non-caricature among the three leads, Stetler represents the playwright’s voice with quiet authority.

Veteran SCR actor Richard Doyle delivers an excellent portrayal of Brock’s smooth-talking attorney whose weakness for the grape manifests itself gradually, but never dulls his rapier wit. Alan Blumenfeld gruffly enacts Brock’s bodyguard, flunky and cousin.

As the senator enlisted to further Brock’s underhanded agends, Hal Landon Jr. oozes political savvy and accommodation (Landon also has a brief, more flamboyant appearance as the assistant hotel manager). Jayne Macfie comically doubles as the senator’s stuffy wife and a chatty chambermaid.

Awe-inspiring settings are nothing new at SCR, but Michael Ganio’s luxuriously appointed hotel suite is the ultimate in creature comfort. Frances Kenny’s period costumes and York Kennedy’s lighting designs are equally impressive -- as is Jim Ragland’s background music from the 1940s. “Born Yesterday” has been reborn into a vintage classic which also speaks to today’s audiences. It’s alternately hilarious and thought-provoking, a theatrical gem with a new coat of polish.

* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Daily Pilot. His reviews appear Fridays.

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