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Theater review: ‘Liberty Inn’ at NewPlace Studio Theatre

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Veteran actor, playwright and Shakespearean scholar Dakin Matthews has a way with rhyme, as he demonstrated in “The Prince of L.A.,” his darkly modern verse play about sexual scandals in the Roman Catholic Church.

Now Matthews channels his versifying skills into a more lighthearted vein, namely, as the book writer and lyricist for “Liberty Inn,” a world premiere musical presented by the Andak Stage Company at the NewPlace Studio Theatre.

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Based on Goldoni’s “La Locandiera,” the show, set in 1787 New York, features Matthews’ very clever lyrics and a memorable score by B.T. Ryback, who is also the musical director.

Proto-feminist trickster Mirandolina (Deborah May, the cast’s linchpin), a proudly unmarried innkeeper, relishes her liberty but also enjoys amassing fawning contingents of male admirers – all unrequited, all ever-hopeful. Her conquests include a comical count and a buffoonish marquis (John Combs and John DeMita, both delightful), as well as her devoted servant and would-be husband, Faber (Bill Mendieta), who is fast tiring of his mistress’s saucy stratagems. When a misogynistic Hessian officer (sexy, droll Norman Snow) declares himself impervious to any and all female charms, it’s a challenge Mirandolina can’t resist.

Granted, all that coy conquest wears a bit thin in the first act, which seems needlessly reiterative, and director Anne McNaughton’s lengthy and ill-considered scene changes are a further drag on an already long show. However, McNaughton’s world-class performers, who include silver-voiced Charlotte DiGregorio as a round-heeled actress of easy virtue and side-splitting Mark Doerr as the captain’s secretly adoring valet, soon hit their comic strides, raising this gently witty comedy to antic heights.

– F. Kathleen Foley

“Liberty Inn,” NewPlace Studio Theatre, 10950 Peach Grove St., North Hollywood. 8 p.m. Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays. (No performances April 2-4.) Ends April 25. $25. (866) 811-4111. www.Andak.org. Running time: 2 hours, 40 minutes.

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