THEATER PREVIEW:

The comedies of Ken Ludwig, Middle America’s answer to Neil Simon, have been particularly well received at Golden West College, where “Lend Me a Tenor” and “Moon Over Buffalo” have entertained audiences in recent years.

Now GWC is getting ready to take a third crack at Ludwig’s farcical prose, scheduling auditions next week for “Leading Ladies,” a comedy that bears, in its description, a striking resemblance to a certain movie classic with Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis and Marilyn Monroe.

“Leading Ladies” focuses on two English Shakespearean actors who find themselves so down on their luck they’re reduced to performing “Scenes From Shakespeare” on the Moose Lodge circuit in the Amish country of Pennsylvania.

When they learn an old lady in York, Pa., is about to die and leave her fortune to her two long-lost English nephews, they scheme to pass themselves off as the relatives and collect the cash. The only trouble is, the relatives aren’t nephews but nieces.

You can guess what happens next. Substitute “Maxine and Stephanie” for Billy Wilder’s combo of “Josephine and Daphne” in “Some Like It Hot” and you’ve got the plot line for Ludwig’s latest farcical treatment of the theatrical hinterlands.

In “Lend Me a Tenor,” a non-professional dresses as an operatic star to save the day. In “Moon Over Buffalo,” an actor appears in a scene from “Private Lives” dressed as Cyrano de Bergerac. One can imagine what the inhabitants of “Leading Ladies” will be up to when the show hits the Mainstage between June 20 and 29.

One also can assume GWC is planning to make the most of it. Director Tom Amen has scheduled auditions for 7 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday in the college’s Mainstage Theater. The cast calls for five men and three women and all roles are open. Casting ages range from 22 to 75 and there is no appointment or preparation required to audition. For more information, e-mail [email protected].

TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Independent. TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Independent.