By Julie Stern

NEW MILFORD — It’s an old truism in the theatre that if the stage set consists of a single elaborately furnished room with a multitude of doors then the play must be a farce and sooner or later the plot will hinge (no pun intended…) on some characters disappearing through the doors while others rush through in search of them.

TheatreWorks New Milford, which frequently stretches the dramatic envelope by attempting complex and difficult serious works, has opted to open its new season with something light: Ken Ludwig’s Moon Over Buffalo. With a seasoned cast working under the able leadership of director Joe Longo, the group has inaugurated the millennium with a show that is pure farce, utterly meaningless, and absolutely funny and entertaining.

Having opened over the final weekend of January, the production is so successful that TheatreWorks president Richard Pettibone has already announced the show’s run will be extended an extra weekend. Moon Over Buffalo will now continue through the final weekend of February.

Set in 1953, when the competition from television was driving many live theatres out of business, the play centers on the mid-life crises of George and Charlotte Hay. The theatre couple has grandiose dreams, but only mediocre abilities, and would like to be doing Shakespeare on Broadway. Instead the two have been driven by reduced circumstances to performing in a fly-by-night repertory company in Buffalo, N.Y., where they offer alternating performances of the flamboyant costume drama Cyrano de Bergerac and Noel Coward’s brittle and sophisticated comedy, Private Lives. Imagine the comedic possibilities of what could happen should the star be too drunk to remember which play he is supposed to be performing in…

The cast hasn’t been paid in two weeks; George and Margaret’s daughter, Roz, has decided to break up with her boyfriend, the company manager, and settle down to a more “normal” life with a Buffalo television weatherman; the troupe’s ingenue, Eileen, announces she is pregnant with George’s baby; and Margaret, in a vengeful pique, agrees to leave George and run off with their lawyer.

Suddenly there is an unexpected phone call. Frank Capra, who is about to begin filming a Hollywood blockbuster, needs a last-minute replacement for Ronald Coleman, who has broken both legs. Capra will be visiting Buffalo to watch the production, in the hope that he can sign George to a contract as a movie star.

Joe Longo, who is always a gifted director, keeps the pace frantic and merry. And his cast, consisting largely of area regulars, plays off one another with vigor.

In addition to TheatreWorks regulars Mark Feltch and Rich Pettibone, who are always good, Jane Farnol is extremely funny in the role of George’s hostile mother-in-law.

Additionally, Billy Dempster is an anxious wreck as the timid weatherman; Monica Merkel is torn between family loyalty and the desire for normalcy in the part of Roz; and Jonathan Ross and J. Scott Williams are stalwart as the men who love the Hay women.

The one newcomer to TheatreWorks, Aynsley Bubbico, brings droll hysteria to the part of Eileen. She should come back.

Sheer fluff, TheatreWorks’ Moon Over Buffalo is a lot more fun than going to the movies. It’s a great way to spend a Friday or Saturday evening.

(Performances continue  Friday and Saturday evening through February 26, with curtain at 8 pm. There is one Sunday performance planned for February 13, at 7 pm. The theatre is at 5 Brookside Avenue in New Milford. Call 860/350-6863 for directions and ticket information, including reservations.)