Back when 'hoochie koochie' didn't mean, um, that

As I'm still gathering my final thoughts on "The Coast of Utopia" trilogy, I need to give a quick mention to a quiet little show running for just a few more days Off-Broadway.

I finally made it out to see "Meet Me In St. Louis" at the Irish Repertory Theater, and what a gem! Nothing flashy, nothing ironic -- just a couple of hours of pure escapism. Certainly, much of my enjoyment came with my familiarity with the film, but so what? After all, it was enough to make "Mary Poppins" an enjoyable experience, and this show didn't need disappearing hat racks or top-of-the-proscenium tap dances to pull it off.

The show, for anyone who has not seen the film -- and hand in your gay card, please, if that's the case -- centers around the Smith family in St. Louis at the turn of the century leading up to the World's Fair. The crises that the family faces are docile enough to make "Little House on the Prairie" look like something Norman Lear wrote. Will dad allow dinner to be postponed so daughter Rose can have a phone call from a boy in peace? Will a young man get his tuxedo from the tailor in time to make it to the ball? Will the family have to move to New York?

Therein lies the charm, however. The earnestness is refreshing during a theatre season in which so many shows want to wink at you the whole time.

The cast is mostly excellent, and Bonnie Fraser (daughter Esther, immortalized by Judy Garland in the film) is a particularly winning presence. The music is handled by a three-piece orchestra and is the perfect backdrop the the unamplified cast, although a few actors were difficult to hear from my Row J seat. They do well by the show's four famous songs: the title song, "The Boy Next Door," "The Trolley Song" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." The period costumes are lovely and the choreography appropriately homey albeit a little crowded on the small stage at times.

I certainly can understand why the show struggled in its lone Broadway outing in the late 1980s (in which Charlotte Moore, the director of this production, starred as Mrs. Smith). Making this show grand would only amplify its weaknesses, making those moth holes from its age all the more apparent. I can only imagine how silly some of the big dance numbers, like the square dance near the end of Act I, would seem with a large ensemble treatment. But in an intimate setting, it seems timeless.

The production itself is not, however. "Meet Me in St. Louis" closes a week from Sunday, so you'll have to hurry to catch this trolley before it leaves the station. And you wouldn't want Esther mad at you, now would you? Why, she might trick you into dancing with someone unattractive, throw flour in your face or something equally devilish.