Grade: A

When Ed Sayles announced the Merry-Go-Round season for this summer, the Broadway hits had a pair of unfamiliar titles as bookends. First was “All Shook Up,” a tremendous hit with both audiences and the critics. Closing the season is the Midwest phenomenon, “Church Basement Ladies,” an out-and-out hysterical take on the Lutheran ladies of Cornucopia, Minn. The East Coast professional premiere of the play is directed by Curt Wollan, who helmed the original, and features one actress who has more than a thousand performances as Mavis under her belt, Greta Grosch. Add in the rest of the sterling cast, which includes the return to MGR of Skaneateles native Maureen Quigley, and you get an exponential increase in the entertainment factor.

If you are a fan of Garrison Keilor's “A Prairie Home Companion,” you will be better prepared for some of the more obscure Lutheran attitudes and delicacies, but it certainly isn't necessary. This show is gut-wrenchingly funny from the opening number to the finale, and Grosch and Quigley are the engines that keep it running.

Grosch gets the best lines and suffuses the show with a physical comedy that recalls the best of Harpo Marx coupled with the absurdity of Monty Python (she does look like Graham Chapman in one of his British mum roles). You may see this show again, but you will always measure Mavis by Grosch's performance.

Quigley is a positive joy as the old biddy who runs the kitchen, exercising her authority with a silent glare, lecturing the youngest on the delights of lutefisk and the importance of butter, and bemoaning the creeping menace of guitars into the liturgy.

Valerie Fagan and Julie Marie Taylor are the mother/daughter team who serve as heirs apparent to the church kitchen, and both are delightful. Ed Romanoff is superb as the sometimes addled pastor who depends so mightily on the ladies and their talents.

While the music is not particularly memorable, it is particularly well performed with uncomplicated choreography by Wendy Short-Hayes that enhances the production. Musical Director Mark Goodman has the cast and his orchestra well in hand.

Director Curt Wollan staged the original production in Minneapolis (where it played for more than two years), and his affection for the play and its subject - his own mother was a church basement lady - is apparent. As for the script: The devil, if you will, is in the details. You may never again pass a bread display without chuckling.

Scott Herbst's set is terrific, and Mark Roming makes his annual pilgrimage to MGR to light a show beautifully. Travis Lope deserves a special mention for the outstanding costumes.

There is nothing objectionable in the show for families.

If you go.

What: “Church Basement Ladies”

When: Performances continue through Saturday, Oct. 4

Where: Merry-Go-Round Playhouse, 6861 E. Lake Road, Owasco

Cost: $25 to $39

Info: Call 255-1785 or visit www.merry-go-round.com