ON THEATER:

Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of three columns reviewing local theater in 2008. The second and third installments are planned for Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.

Sometimes the oldies really are the goodies, especially in the craftsmanlike hands of director Martin Benson and his colleagues at South Coast Repertory.

As we look back over the repertory’s productions in 2008, several of them world premieres, the one that stands out most impressively has more than a century’s worth of miles on its odometer. This would be “The Heiress,” Benson’s superbly staged revival of the mid-1800s drama of love, need and avarice.

“Beyond its melodramatic — and, by now, over-familiar — story, there are some super-charged, gripping performances, particularly in the case of the title character,” this column declared in its review. “Under the surgically precise direction of Martin Benson, ‘The Heiress’ breaks the bonds of vintage play revival and offers some keen insight into the upper class New York life of 1850.”

Ranking a close second — and in a vastly contrasting format — is what this column dubbed the “outlandishly hilarious production of Alan Ayckbourn’s madcap melange ‘Taking Steps,’ “which was “thrust back into the 1970s by director Art Manke, complete with a go-go dancer, a leisure suit and the wildest disco-powered curtain call you’re ever likely to see from the show’s super-charged six-member cast.”

Another golden oldie was Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest,” which ranks third and was labeled “a banquet for admirers of the well-spoken word,” to which was added, “Wilde’s words currently are being particularly well spoken.”

Fourth was a more recent effort, Sarah Ruhl’s Twilight Zonish comedy “Dead Man’s Cell Phone,” directed by Bart DeLorenzo. No. 5 was a rare repertory musical, “An Italian Straw Hat,” staged by Stefan Novinski.

Rounding out the field were the productions of “What They Have,” “A Feminine Ending,” “Culture Clash in America” and “The Injured Party,” the latter a rare misstep from prolific playwright and repertory contributor Richard Greenberg.

On to the individual honors, and here Kirsten Potter stands recognized as the best of 2008 at South Coast Repertory for her riveting portrayal of an awkward spinster experiencing first (and probably only) love in “The Heiress.” Potter created “no fewer than three different character studies” in the title role, all delivered brilliantly (She also impressed in the comedy “Taking Steps”).

“Equally powerful is Tony Amendola’s achingly authoritarian interpretation of her father,” this column proclaimed, and his must be judged the year’s finest performance by an actor on the repertory’s stage.

Runners-up among the actresses are Kandis Chappell in “The Importance of Being Earnest” and Marin Hinkle in “What They Have.” Among the actors, other outstanding interpretations came from Bill Brochtrup and Rob Nagle, both in “Taking Steps.”

Other actors delivering memorable performances during 2008 were Michael Gotch, “The Importance of Being Earnest”; Kevin Rahm, “What They Have”; Reg Rogers, “The Injured Party”; Daniel Blinkoff and Alam Blumenfeld, “An Italian Straw Hat” and Lenny Von Dohlen in “Dead Man’s Cell Phone.”

Notable portrayals by actresses in 2008 also included the work of Brooke Bloom and Amy Aquino, both in “A Feminine Ending,” and Margaret Welsh and Christina Pickles, both for “Dead Man’s Cell Phone.”

The next chapter of this three-part series will be delivered with your Christmas Day edition, an overview of community and college theater in 2008, followed on New Year’s Day by the honoring of the Daily Pilot’s man and woman of the year in theater.

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