By Jackie Demaline
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors collides with Rodgers and Hart and in the hands of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music's musical theater department. The Boys from Syracuse is unadulterated musical bliss.

CCM musical theater is considered the best in the nation, and Boys illustrates why. The student ensemble is terrific, but it's the training, with shows like Boys, that polishes potential into dazzling talent.

So hats off to director Aubrey Berg, who goes for the high concept of low musical comedy and scores. He honors the 1938 spirit of the original with some broad winks to burlesque even as he tweaks the script for a modern audience.

The jokes are non-stop - visual, musical, large, small, gentle, bawdy. They have a rhythm as flawless as the show's sublime score. Mr. Berg's work is so organic it looks easy. It isn't.

On Paul Shortt's set, an explosion of crayon colors that uses the geometrics of the Memphis School as a runway for a delirious flight of design fancy, we watch the adventures of two sets of identical twins who don't know each other exist.

Antipholus of Ephesus (big-voiced Will Ray) is the straying hubby of Adriana (Ashley Brown, who uses her glorious voice to great effect in songs like "Falling in Love with Love").

His servant Dromio (Brian Sears) is married to managing Luce. (Betsy Wolfe gives the kind of big musical comedy performance that makes Broadway stars.)

Meanwhile, visiting from Syracuse are another Antipholus (song-and dance man Denis Lambert) and his servant Dromio (Eric Santagata.) Everyone looks fabulous in Rebecca Senske's giddy costuming, a witty match to Mr. Shortt's set, cut to ancient Grecian lines.

Not only does everybody in Ephesus confuse them, but the unmarried Antipholus falls in love (at first sight, natch) with the sister of his "wife." Love- and guilt-struck Angel Reda is the best I've seen her, and that's saying a lot.

Mr. Sears and Mr. Santagata are identically talented as they tumble around the stage, carrying the weight of big comedy. They need some sharpening, but these are underclassmen in training. They both show huge promise.

Guest choreographer David Wainstreet challenges the Dromios and the rest of the ensemble with dance numbers that would have worked in the 1930s original on Broadway. What a joy to see dance that isn't merely gymnastics.

Ironically, an ill-conceived revival of Boys from Syracuse tanked on Broadway earlier this year. If the New York production had been as smart as the efforts of CCM's creative team, it would still be playing.

Many, many silly complications pile up, giving lots of players a chance to shine. Josh Dazel, expert at infusing small roles with big comedy, does it again here as a Roman soldier; Sarrah Strimmel struts her stuff in skyscraper heels as the local Madam.

Boys is chock-full of wonderful songs, some of which will be new to a 21st century audience's ears.

Give a standing ovation to musical director Roger Grodsky, who has meticulously re-created a lush period orchestration (rich with brass and jazz curlicues) then expertly puts the student Philharmonia Orchestra (augmented with students from the jazz department) through its paces.

One false note: on opening night Thursday, Chuck Hatcher's sound design was out-of-control, not the first time for sound problems on his watch.

And one giant Raspberry to CCM, which didn't see fit to promote the show on the marquee that greets the off-campus community at the entrance drive to the college.

Over the course of just over a year, CCM musical theater has produced a rare and dazzling Candide, a knock-out Nine, challenged itself with an original musical Dracula (written by alums), offered the regional premiere of 1960s cult hit Promenade and now a vintage musical that fizzes like champagne.

In 2003, Cincinnati expects hundreds of thousands of cultural visitors. Let's hope CCM stands ready to use this opportunity to let the world know what's tucked on University of Cincinnati's campus.

The Boys from Syracuse, 2:30 p.m. today, College-Conservatory of Music Corbett Auditorium, University of Cincinnati. 556-4183.