Oy vey! Such a family.

Meshugeneh, all of them. Except for, maybe, that doorman. He had a head on his shoulders.

But that friend, that sex-craved name-dropper. Any woman who had a daughter with a friend like that would have bowels as blocked as poor Mrs. Tuckman’s.

Oy vey! Such a family.

One of the most hysterically funny families to grace the Penobscot Theatre Company’s stage is the brainchild of playwright Charles Busch. He put neurotic Marjorie Taub, her husband, Dr. Ira Taub, and her mother, Frieda Tuckman, on a collision course with Marjorie’s childhood friend Lee Green in “The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife.”

First staged in 2000, the only words that come close to describing the two-act play are way, way, way over the top. It’s a traditional farce without all the slamming doors. It’s a tragic soap opera in the tradition of “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.” It’s a – actually, it’s pretty indescribable and really needs to be seen to be believed.

Director Nathan Halvorson’s cast is almost perfect. Each embodies his or her character with a consuming energy usually displayed only by competitive speed eaters. Halvorson doesn’t let his actors play the script, he makes them devour it.

No one does that better than A.J. Mooney, a local actress who must have been held back by other directors. Mooney moves onstage more like a noodle than a middle-aged maven. As Marjorie, she literally flails on stage as the character reacts to her mother’s criticisms, her husband’s suggestions and her own insecurities.

Mooney’s performance is the engine that drives this production and throughout she is hitting on all cylinders. The best of the best are Marjorie’s tirades. The actress spews them all over the stage without stopping to take a breath and leaves the audience gasping for air, doubled over with laughter, wiping tears from their eyes.

The actress is familiar to local theatergoers for her fine performances with PTC and Ten Bucks Theatre. Never have they seen her like this. Mooney, Busch and Halvorson are a match made in heaven.

Marcia Joy Douglas is best known as a member of the faculty at the University of Maine. Once a year, she directs students in a production on the Orono campus. Her turn on the PTC stage is a rare but welcome event. Freida Tuckman lives down the hall from her daughter and, like many old people, she obsesses about health, especially her bowels and their movement or nonmovement. While the actress’s New York Jewish accent is not always consistent, it’s easy to see from Douglas’ whining, maligning mother why Marjorie turned out the way she did.

Douglas’ performance is so true that the audience, like Marjorie, loves and hates her at the same time. She equally wields her walker and her tongue as weapons and the intricate dance Douglas and Mooney do allows the play to work as perfectly as it does.

Marjorie’s childhood friend Lee Green, played by Jeri Misler, another local actress, is the catalyst that jump-starts Mooney’s character from her depression. The globe-trotting Lee drops celebrity’s names the way Marjorie reels off the authors of the world’s great books. Tall, blond and reed-thin, Misler’s Lee is a mystery who knows no boundaries. Is she a liar or merely a mooch? How does she instinctively know how to manipulate Marjorie, a woman she hasn’t seen since childhood? Or is she simply psychic? It doesn’t really matter because the actress is such a great and equal foil for Mooney.

While this show belongs to the women, David Gable and Shalin Agarwal, both of New York, hold their own on stage. Gable shines as the good but neglectful husband who can minister to his underprivileged patients but not his own wife. Agarwal’s doorman Mohammed is fine as the calm and stabilizing force in the midst of this whirlwind of a family.

Lex Liang, PTC’s resident set and costume designer has outdone himself on this production. The red set is as striking as it is repugnant. No wonder these characters are nuts if they live surrounded by blood-red walls, red cabinets, red curtains. The set is beautiful, workable and so, so Marjorie.

His costumes also are delightful. Lee’s clothes are especially striking and show off the woman’s long lovely legs that the character no doubt has used to great advantage over the years.

“The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife” is a delightful and hysterically funny balm to the slow slide into winter that is gripping Maine. Just be sure to bring a hankie to wipe away those tears.

For tickets to “The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife,” call 942-3333 or visit www.penobscottheatre.org.