THEATER PREVIEW:

There’s something about playwright Ken Ludwig that makes Golden West College theater director Tom Amen take notice.

Previously, Amen staged the Ludwig comedies “Lend Me a Tenor” and “Moon Over Buffalo” on the GWC Mainstage. Next up will be Ludwig’s “Leading Ladies,” opening next weekend.

This one, to hear Amen discuss it, is a cross between the movie “Some Like It Hot” and the Shakespearean comedy “Twelfth Night.” And “cross” is the operative word, as in “dressing.”

“The play revolves around two British Shakespearean actors, Jack and Leo, who find themselves down on their luck,” Amen explains. “Then they hear that a wealthy widow in York, Penn., is on her deathbed and is about to leave her fortune to her two long-lost English nephews.

Deciding to pass themselves off as the beloved boys, Jack and Leo head for southwestern Pennsylvania. “Upon arriving in York,” Amen notes, “the boys discover that the nephews, Max and Steve, are really nieces — Maxine and Stephanie.”

Complicating matters, Jack and Leo both fall head-over- heels in love with two young women at their dear old auntie’s palatial mansion. As Amen puts it, “Comedy just doesn’t get any better. It’s a real hoot.”

As with Ludwig’s other two comedies, “Leading Ladies” is set in the 1950s, posing some interesting choices for Susan Thomas Babb, who chairs the GWC Theater Department and has designed the costumes. Veteran set designer Wally Huntoon returns to create the backdrop and Fred DePontee is handling the lighting design.

As for the actors, Amen exults, “I really lucked out with this cast. We’ve got some fresh faces, some solid actors from the GWC student body and some genuine veterans involved in this show, and we’re having a wonderful time with it.”

The Golden West cast includes Bruce Alexander, Cassandra Cade, David Chorley, Sean Coutu, Robert Ferreras, Lawrence Hemingway, Julie Patzer and Shirley Romano. The stage manager is Christian Navarro.

WHAT: “Leading Ladies”

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday June 20–29

WHERE: Golden West College, 15744 Golden West St., Huntington Beach, 92647

COST: $10 – $12

INFO: (714) 895-8150; www.gwctheater.com

TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Independent.