Desperate Measures

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New World Stages has found a valuable niche as a venue for musicals that once had long Broadway runs such as Avenue Q and Jersey Boys as well as off-Broadway shows that deserve further exposure but aren’t really suitable for Broadway. This delightful, slightly bawdy show, in the latter category, had to end its successful run at York Theatre Company, but happily is enjoying an encore run on 50th Street with almost all of its creative team intact. Based very loosely on Shakespeare’s “Measure for Measure,” the action has been moved to the Arizona territory in the late 1800’s. Johnny Blood (Conor Ryan; Invisible Thread, The Fortress of Soitude) is a not-too-bright cowpoke who has been sentenced to hang for a barroom shooting defending his saloon bar girlfriend Bella (Lauren Molina; Rock of Ages). The upright sheriff Martin Green (Peter Saide) looks up Johnny’s sister Susanna (Sarah Parnicky, new to the cast), who is about to become Sister Mary Jo, and persuades her to seek a pardon for Johnny from Governor von Richterhenkenpflichtgetruber (Nick Wyman; Catch Me If You Can). We also meet Johnny’s cellmate, Father Morse (Gary Marachek), a drunken priest with a fondness for Nietzsche. The governor agrees to the young nun-to-be’s plea to free Johnny on the condition that she spend the night with him. The silly plot goes on about its merry way and, of course, ends happily. The entire cast are excellent, but I would especially single out Lauren Molina and Conor Ryan. The music by David Friedman (Nellie Bly) is consistently hummable and occasionally more than that. The book and lyrics by Peter Kellogg (Anna Karenina) are very clever. His rhyming couplets are not up there with David Ives’ but are still quite amusing. Director/choreographer Bill Castellino (Cagney) is quite comfortable with the material and works in several bits of hilarious physical humor. James Morgan’s (Cagney) rustic wooden set and Nicole Wee’s (Closer than Ever) period costumes add to the fun. If you are looking for old-fashioned light summer entertainment, this will fill the bill nicely. Running time: two hours 25 minutes including intermission.