`Three Postcards’ crazy and entertaining musical

Here’s an outline of “Three Postcards,” a musical play at Portland Stage Company through Jan. 29: three 30ish women who have been friends since childhood get together for dinner and discussion at a chichi bistro in Manhattan.

That’s as much plot as we get from this crazed, 90-minute, no-intermission show because playwright Craig Lucas is not really interested in plot. Rather he points to all those things that are not so obvious like how some women can tell full-life stories in half sentences and how quickly waiters develop complex rapports with strangers.

Gal pals Little Jane, Big Jane and K.C. exchange lots of uh-huhs and you knows over cream of fennel soup, sliced duck and seafood mousse, and we get the equivalent of a postcard from each woman, a kind of “Hi, I’m in my own universe, wish you were here.”

Set designer Rob Odorisio emphasizes the fragmentation with half walls, a half painting and dappled rose floors and midnight blue walls. At times, director Greg Leaming makes too big of a point of the crazy time scheme by making actors freeze or move in slo-mo, but generally the play flows like a set with a jazz group in which everyone works together and players solo from time to time.

Little Jane is the most formidable of the three, an ambitious businesswoman who orders drinks with the authority of a corporate head and goes home to an unruly son and alcoholic husband. In the role, Adinah Alexander sculpts a woman we’d love to hate, but end up appreciating because she is intelligent, enduring, vulnerable and passionate.

Big Jane is in many ways the opposite of Little Jane. She bounces between jobs and men and once, when her friends sent her on a 10-day vacation to Martinique, she fell in love and stayed for five years. Her impulsiveness and naivete, which limit her own life, spice the play with humor and fun. As Big Jane, Deirdre Harrison gives the most natural and charming performance of the cast.

The third girlfriend, K.C., is the pet of the trio. Her mother recently died and she bought a puppy for her daughters. She’s always been a good girl and a rich girl. That’s about as interesting as K.C. gets, and Gayton Scott doesn’t do much to flesh out the character.

Ron Bagdon is aloof and venomous as the waiter, but never really plays the role to its comic possibilities.

Unlike most musicals, the dialogue of “Postcards” doesn’t build up to songs. The songs pop in and out, but don’t necessarily make a logical connection. Since 1987, when the play was first performed, reviewers have compared Craig Carnelia’s score to Stephen Sondheim’s music, but such a comparison is ludicrous. The music, warmly performed and directed by Douglas Coates, is meant to be poignant and revealing, but is often trite with overly simple melodies and rhymes.

We may not care much about what happens to these women, but Lucas’ script is funny and entertaining, especially when he tampers with time and allows us to see the story behind the story in much the same spirit that Woody Allen did with “Annie Hall.”

“Three Postcards” will be performed 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 5 and 9 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday through Jan. 29 at Portland Performing Arts Center, 25A Forest Ave. For $13-$28 tickets, call 774-0465.