A little taste of summertime fun shines brightly in comedy `Alone at the Beach’

If there’s anything we need right about now, it’s a little taste of summer fun, and the Penobscot Theatre happily provides just that with its production of Richard Dresser’s amiable seaside comedy “Alone at the Beach,” which previewed last night and opens tonight.

Part sitcom, part soap opera, the story centers on five previously unacquainted Manhattanites who answer an ad to share a house in the Hamptons for the summer. They’ve all come for some relief from the stress of city beat and heat, but their summer is spent in anything but a respite from the complications of contemporary life. And it is definitely hot.

George owns the house and idealistically welcomes the guests to alleviate his loneliness and help pay a few bills. It will be fun, he tells himself, but things start going awry from the get-go.

Chris arrives with a headache, and probably wouldn’t have come at all if she knew Lonnie was bringing a dog and Molly was going to smoke. Robbie can’t believe there’s no television and no recreational drugs, and he fully intends to contact his lawyer to get out of the arrangement. Alex immediately gets a painful sunburn and can’t figure out why no one will follow his chore chart for preparing meals and doing the dishes.

In the meantime, George falls in love with Molly, who is recovering from the breakup of her marriage with Joe, who arrives unexpectedly and tries to seduce Chris, who takes up smoking after an affair with Robbie, who becomes sexually obsessed with Lonnie.

And dear Alex is more interested in the live turtles than in the cavorting of his bed-hopping roommates.

There’s no real point to this “Love American Style” meets “The Big Chill” script. In fact, the play is rather meandering. But for lighthearted entertainment, it’s a delightfully engaging evening of comedy.

Director Lisa Tromovitch successfully keeps the focus on fun, even though the action could stand a bit more spontaneity.

As with too many of Penobscot’s productions, the cast members are unevenly matched, and, unfortunately, a lot of the laugh lines get swallowed or simply tossed away.

Yet several individual performances give the show enough momentum and snap to carry the three acts.

Bob Libbey’s stud man Robbie is impeccably suave, cynical, and hip.

Arriving in the second act, John Walsh accelerates the pace with his marvelously macho and caustically insinuating Joe.

And the simply elegant nerdiness of Keith Robinson’s Alex is absolutely priceless and beautiful.

Rebecca Cooke has a winning stage presence and is modestly amusing as Molly. As George, Frank Bachman is often sympathetic.

Kat Minkevich gets off to a great start and loses strength with her portrayal of Lonnie, and Karin Shearer is flat as the supposedly opinionated Chris.

Michael Reidy’s set is lovely with a careful eye toward detail, and Odelle Bowman’s costuming is colorful, stylish, and surprisingly varied.

“Alone at the Beach” will be performed 7 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 5 and 8:30 p.m. Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday, through May 15 at the Penobscot Theatre. For tickets, call 942-3333.