ByKathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
Michael Beard, Carla Jolis and Hoku Gilbert star in
Manoa Valley Theatre's "Inspecting Carol."

The production actually made me laugh last night. A lot. Few shows do that.

The show gets off to a fast start. Soapbox Artistic Director Zorah Bloch (Carla Jolis) is starting four days of rehearsals when she learns the National Endowment for the Arts won't be renewing the $30,000 grant her theater needs to stay open and that she and the other founding members may be personally liable for all outstanding debts.

One hope remains: The NEA is sending an inspector to render a last-minute judgment that could restore the grant.

So when diffident Wayne Wellacre (George O'Hanlon) shows up, says he has an appointment, and proves horribly inept as an actor, Bloch and her fiscal officer (Michael Beard) conclude the NEA must be conducting the assessment clandestinely. What Wayne wants, Wayne gets. When he expresses a tentative opinion on staging, Zorah grits her teeth and agrees. He sides with an actor in a creative dispute and she concedes the point. It isn't long before the show's Scrooge, eccentric left-of-liberal Larry Vauxhall (Allen Cole), maneuvers Wayne into doing a free-wheeling rewrite of the script.

Are the English accents a problem? Chuck 'em! Nervous actor can't find his mark on stage? Make it gigantic! And why not update Dickens by adding some politically correct stuff on the exploitation of Third World peoples by culturally insensitive white males?

The script - Sullivan's, that is - is spiced throughout with snappy one-liners and acid-etched observation on various aspects of modern theater and actor types. Sullivan brings plenty of detail and insight to each characters.

Act II reaches its zenith with show-within-a-show snippets of the do-or-die dress rehearsal in which everything goes horribly awry; props malfunction, the sound is hideous, actors miss their cues and mangle their lines. It's the most hilarious Christmas entertainment you'll find in Honolulu this season, and certainly the definitive comic version of "A Christmas Carol."

Director Bill Ogilvie does great work with a terrific cast. O'Hanlon kicks off the comic action early in Act I. Cole is magnificent in Act II as an actor improvising wildly as a show implodes around him.

Every other cast member has at least a few showcase moments. All play beautifully.

There's Mark Gilbert as Phil Hewlet/Bob Cratchit (Zorah's very jealous ex-lover), and Sylvia Hormann-Alper and Tom Sinnett as the resident Shakespeareans. Will Kahele personifies dignified terror as a token "person-of-color," hired only to conform with federal guidelines regarding opportunities for minorities. Matthew Kleist a comically oversized Tiny Tim, and Justin Brossier and Hoku Gilbert work out well as the other members of the Soapbox company. Maria-Luisa Winslow completes the cast; to explain her role would spoil the screwball plot. Paul Guncheon's detailed set and deliberately cheesy props add further to an outstanding show.

Coming at the time of year when there is such a glut of the same old same old in Christmas season entertainment, "Inspecting Carol" is both welcome and refreshing indeed. Even the bogus Soapbox Playhouse program in the center of the playbill is right on target!

What: "Inspecting Carol," presented by Manoa Valley Theatre
When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 4 p.m. Sundays through Dec. 22
Where: Manoa Valley Theatre
Cost: $23 to $25; discounts available
Call: 988-6131