‘Born Yesterday’ shines on Acadia stage Period piece holds up due in part to strong cast

The year is 1946 and Harry Brock is in Washington, D.C., to buy himself a senator. He also intends to expand his junk business and collect all the metal strewn across Europe in the just-ended war.

On his arm is Billie Dawn, a blond bombshell he plucked from the chorus. She turns out, with a little tutoring from writer Paul Verrall, to be the most honest person in the capital, and one of the funniest.

Garson Kanin’s play “Born Yesterday” made a star of Judy Holliday, who played Billie on Broadway for nearly four years, then won an Academy Award for the 1950 film version. Strictly a period piece, the comedy holds up half a century later because its colorful characters are so much fun to watch.

“Born Yesterday” is an excellent choice for the veteran troupe of actors performing at Acadia Repertory Theatre this summer in Somesville. Under the direction of Wayne Loui, they snap their dialogue like Billie pops her gum, and create characters with depth and dignity, despite their – the characters’, not the actors’ – considerable flaws.

Fred Robbins bullies and blusters his way across the stage as uncouth junkman Harry Brock. It’s impossible not to like this guy just a little, no matter how hard theatergoers work to resist his rough charm.

Robbins easily could have relied on an Archie Bunker-esque stereotype and created a one-dimensional character more cartoon than flesh. Instead, the actor revealed glimpses once or twice of the vulnerable man hidden beneath the successful bully of a businessman. Robbins sets a high standard for his fellow actors.

Jenny O’Sullivan’s Billie is as ditzy as she is vulnerable, as insightful as she is ignorant. O’Sullivan presents Billie as a woman bored with her moll status but unsure of how to break out of that mold and Harry’s grasp. The actress gradually brightens as Paul Verrall introduces Billie to classical literature, music and art, until she finally glows like a new star.

The petite actress is a perfect physical foil to Robbins’ bulky and boorish Brock. The only thing she misses is Billie’s pervasive and persuasive sex appeal. O’Sullivan is more cute than kitten and that keeps her from bringing to life what fuels the engine that drives Billie to expose Brock’s illegal deal in a pique of honesty.

As Paul Verrall, David Blais captures the intellect, the romanticism and righteous indignation of the character, but he does it as a 21st century, not a 1940s, man. A double-breasted suit and a fedora might have helped him find the feel of the era – a time when women were being pushed out of the factory and back into the kitchen.

Blais’ Paul is more Alan Alda than William Holden, who portrayed the character in the famous film. There’s also not much sizzle between him and O’Sullivan. Their chaste smooches are anticlimactic, especially after their delightfully seductive intellectual banter.

Peter Carriveau as the deal maker Ed Devery and Phil Fox as the corrupt senator wear their parts like comfortable shoes. When they’re onstage with Robbins, the trio portrays an easy familiarity the men of that generation slipped in and out of so naturally. The three actors form the axis of the action that the other characters play around, and they do it effortlessly.

The set and furniture are exquisite, but the costumes are uneven, especially the suits worn by most of the men. It is a glaring inconsistency in an otherwise admirable production.

It is the strong cast in a near-perfect play that makes “Born Yesterday” a night of delightful theater. Director Loui successfully mines the show, bringing all the golden nuggets, still shining after half a century, to the surface. They still glitter in the night sea air on Acadia Rep’s stage.

“Born Yesterday” will be performed through Sunday, July 27 at Acadia Repertory Theatre in Somesville. For information, call 244-7260 or visit the Web site at www.acadiarep.com.