Note to the creators of Spiderman, Turn Off the Dark: instead of making your actors fly, you would get much farther by getting your audience to levitate. To make actors fly, one needs some costly (and apparently rather dangerous) wiring and hydraulic equipment.  To get an audience to levitate, you need something far less hazardous, a musical comedy -- you know, like Where's Charley?

Presenting this kind of classic farce is a bit like preparing a classic soufflé; in order for the fluff to rise, all the ingredients must be in precise proportion and handled with reasonable care. In this Encores staging, director John Doyle has shown extraordinary sense, resulting in a concert that gave as much satisfaction as any fully staged production.  The pacing varied perfectly from scene to scene, picking up almost imperceptibly as it built to the breathless climax.  Part of the credit for this must go to musical director Rob Berman, who led the orchestra with his usual brilliance.  Lauren Worsham and Jill Paice were just right as the young ladies in question, and Sebastian Arcelus provided a perfect assist as Charley's roomate. Arcelus and Paice made the most of "My Darling, My Darling," and Worsham pleased the audience handling the repetitive female soliloquy "The Woman in His Room." Broadway veterans Rebecca Luker and Howard McGillin were pure delights as Charley's actual aunt and the widower she loved in days gone by -- and seems destined to love again.  When Luker and McGillin (both of whom obviously have fascinating portraits in their attics) joined their glorious voices in the rapturous and aptly titled Loesser duet "Lovelier Than Ever," they provided just the sort "moment of revelation" that Encores audiences crave.  Few of us knew this rarely heard song, but none of us will ever forget this sumptuous performance of it.