Margo Veil

The lavish set initially puts the characters in an elegantly paneled, large darkened lounge, a stocked bar to one side and plenty of doorways on other sides through which various personages can lurk and wander and spring and perform plays, and…. Let's just say Margo Veil, whomever she may be here, has adventures aplenty, which allows a uniformly excellent cast to hurtle through the play's escapades and odd locales, under the skilled and imaginative direction of Bart DeLorenzo.

The sweet, pleasantly ambiguous framing device of this Len Jenkin play lets the audience tumble unquestioningly into the whirlwind of storytelling that's old-fashioned and modern in the best of both ways. DeLorenzo can simply set a pair of chairs in a block of light, and suddenly aspiring actor Margo (Dorie Barton, period perfect and charmingly quirky) is in a hearse on a darkened road with a creepy mortician (Tom Fitzpatrick). Seconds later, she's alone with an escaped lunatic who was her high school sweetheart (Daniel Bess); in a twirl they're at a dance under primrose pink lighting where the emcee (Don Oscar Smith) swirls soap bubbles to set the scene.

Margo then wants to meet the playwright of her latest disaster, and he materializes (Bess, this time grown and classy). To escape conviction for an unwitting murder the two commit, they're off to a tanning salon run by a slovenly sot (Colleen Kane, almost unrecognizable from the play's intro) and her redneck son (Jeremy Shranko, ultra-hyperactive), where Margo's and Arthur's souls will be transposed to other bodies (Brittany Slattery superb as a blind Lithuanian lovely; Fitzpatrick hilarious as an ultra-theatrical actor). The new Margo goes off with her grandpa (Smith, cuddly, with a funny accent) and meets Lithuanian magician Mortmain (Bess with an even funnier accent). They marry, but Mortmain is replaced by an Italian interloper (Shranko, with several accents at once). Professors and dames (the swiftly morphing Lauren Campedelli and Liz Davies) sweep in at opportune moments. Cabbies and cops, clerics and agents pop in and out, letting the cast flex comedic and vocal chops.

Keith Mitchell created the sturdy scenic design, lit in a noir mood by Lap Chi Chu. Ann Closs-Farley's costumes tell their own tales. And sound designs range from bombs and clacking trains to the actor-created effects of old-time radio, designed by John Zalewski, DeLorenzo, and the cast. This production proves that high quality and smart theatermaking can be fun—if such proof is ever needed.

Presented by the Evidence Room at and with the Odyssey Theatre, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., L.A. June 11–July 31. Fri.–Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m. (Also Wed., 8 p.m., June 29 & July 13; Thu., 8 p.m., July 7–28 only. Sun. performances 7 p.m. only, June 26 & July 31.) (310) 477-2055. www.odysseytheatre.com.