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[an error occurred while processing this directive] (none) Enter the Guardsman February 18 - October 27 book by Scott Wentworth, music by Craig Bohmler, lyrics by Marion Adler Director: Peter Amster. Scenery: Daniel Ostling. Costumes: Galina Solovyeva. Lighting: Dawn Chiang. David Cooper An Actor, (Michael Elich) left, and An Actress (Suzanne Irving), discuss the evening's performance in a scene from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's 2001 production of `Enter the Guardsman,' book by Scott Wentworth, music by Craig Bohmler, lyrics by Marion Adler. By Robert H. Miller Special to the Tidings Not since 1986 has the Oregon Shake-speare Festival ventured into a full-blown musical. Then it was "The Threepenny Opera," with book and lyrics by Bertolt Brecht and music by Kurt Weill, with Penny Metropulos as Mrs. Peachum, Linda Alper as Polly and Joe Vincent as Macheath (Mack the Knife). Quite a contrast is "Enter the Guardsman," which proves to be an intimate and romantic musical, now playing at the Bowmer Theatre throughout the 2001 season. The book by Scott Wentworth is based on Ferenc Molnar's 1910 play, "The Guardsman," with lyrics by Marion Adler set to music by Craig Bohmler. It concerns a famous Actor married to an equally famous Actress, who, after six months, decides to keep romance kindled by posing as an admirer - all under the watchful eye of the Playwright (a new character introduced by Wentworth). Libby Appel, OSF's artistic director, had long wanted to bring us a musical, not a typical Broadway one, and "Enter the Guardsman" strongly appealed to her. It had premiered in 1997 at the Donmar Warehouse in London, with numerous productions elsewhere since. But did our actors have the voices to carry it off? A preliminary audition for the composer and director proved that they certainly did. The choice of Peter Amster as director was a shrewd step, for he had already directed this musical for the Northlight Theatre in Skokie, Illinois, and, besides, had extensive experience in opera and choreography. Amster, with whom I spoke recently, was highly complimentary about the cast, praising their extraordinary musicianship, which made his task so much easier. Even though the backstage scenic design by Daniel Ostling enabled the actors to perform as far as possible downstage - as in the dressing-room scenes -Amster felt they still needed to be miked, to ensure the proper balance between the individual capability of the voices, with the orchestra hidden away out of sight back stage. I wondered how the cast took to being wired for sound. Amster chuckled and said, "Oh, there was some resistance at first. You know, this is OSF, the Bowmer Theatre, and we know how to project our voices." In the end, though, the electronic gadgetry and monitoring by sound engineer Douglas K. Faerber and his team of top-notch technicians, won out. "They're my heroes," Amster enthused. He, by the way, will rejoin OSF next year to direct "Idiot's Delight," Robert E. Sherwood's 1936 play "lovingly dedicated" to Lynn Fontanne and Alfred Lunt. Which brings me to the Molnar mystique, that his plays have been a fertile source for musical adaptation. Born in Budapest in 1878 into a wealthy Jewish merchant family, he gave up the study of law to become a journalist at aged 18, and later began writing plays that were witty and sophisticated. He did a stint as a war correspondent in World War I. He married three times and lived the leisurely life of the cultured bohemian so often depicted in his plays. And he wore a monocle. The Theatre Guild staged "The Guardsman" in 1924 with the Lunts (a "natural" for them) who went on to make a movie of it in 1931, their only film together. Another film version followed in 1941, a musical called "The Chocolate Soldier," with Nelson Eddy and Rise Stevens, not to be confused with the operetta by Oscar Strauss. Then, in 1985, another non-musical film emerged as "Lily in Love." Molnar became an American citizen in 1940 but declined to let the Theatre Guild do a musical adaptation of his play "Liliom"(1909), saying he had already refused Puccini permission to turn it into an opera. However, after seeing "Oklahoma!"(1943), he agreed that Rodgers and Hammerstein could work on it as long as they did not change the spirit of the play. Thus was "Carousel" (1945) born. Molnar, watching one of the final rehearsals, is said to have wept at many of the scenes. Another Molnar play, "The Good Fairy" (1932) was turned into a musical, "Make A Wish"(1951), with songs by Hugh Martin and book by Preston Sturges. Continued from previous page And one must mention Tom Stoppard's "Rough Crossing," an adaptation of "The Play at the Castle" (1924), presented at the Festival in 1997. It included songs set to music by André Previn. Molnar died in New York in 1952. He was a prolific writer in his thirties, but barren in his latter years. He just could not recapture the gaiety and charm that imbued his earlier work. So, if "The Guardsman" is vintage tokay, to give the Hungarian playwright his due, then OSF's musicalized presentation "Enter the Guardsman," is a "resounding" success in its own right. 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