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Even when they fall far short of virtuosity, Centerstage's productions have often been rescued by technical craft and the occasional full-throttle performance. Such is the case with the theater's revival of Ah, Wilderness!, the only certified comedy in Nobel Prize-winning playwright Eugene O'Neill's canon. Some blame can go to problems with the script itself, which attempts an exploration of the lighter aspects of early 20th-century Americana using the same rhythms and methods that Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller and O'Neill himself applied to modern tragedy. So, while director Melia Bensussen and her cast aren't always given room for incisive character analysis, what touches of humanity the story holds preclude hilarious, satisfying caricature.But how easily this all might be forgiven. Set on the Fourth of July, 1906, Ah, Wilderness! is consistently likeable and, at moments, tragicomically sharp in its recent incarnation at Centerstage's Pearlstone Theater. Construed by O'Neill as an act of "wishing out loud," the play's portrait of small-town, upper-middle class Connecticut can't help but invite a reassuring nostalgia which Bensussen channels with exceptional intelligence. Yet the script also allows the production a few select and unexpected artistic liberties. And it is these stylistic strengths that ultimately enabled this otherwise slight if uplifting take on O'Neill's comedy to move towards delicate commentary.The first and most fascinating of these touches is scenic designer James Noone's set, which consists primarily of four shifting giant panels made from wooden gables and window frames. Rather than clashing with costume designer Clint Ramos' faithful period garb, the stage setup simply enhances the intimacy and quirkiness of Ah, Wilderness!'s homespun world.

Of all the inhabitants of this too-good-to-be-true microcosm, complete with after-dinner sing-alongs and backyard pyrotechnics, the main focus of O'Neill's attention is Richard Miller (Bob Braswell), the second son of a prospering newspaperman (Tom Bloom) and his proper wife (Elizabeth Hess). Richard, in spite of Braswell's loud, nervous portrayal, sees himself as a romanticist rebel along the lines of Oscar Wilde or Algernon Swinburne. This deluded self-importance, along with Peter van Wagner's performance as Richard's terminally besotted Uncle Sid, pulls the loudest laughs. Both men, in ways that are alternately uproarious and heartbreaking, are incompatible with the rest of the Miller family's utopia.

What, then, does Richard's particular rebellion look like? Jilted on the Fourth by his longtime crush, Muriel (Kimesia Hartz), the aspiring adventurer takes refuge in a seedy tavern with one of his older brother's friends. Brooding, womanizing and fighting ensue after Richard, left on his own, drinks one glass of hard liquor too many -- all in the space of one sequence late in the first act. The succeeding scenes, which confront the young man's homecoming and its aftermath, move with much less energy. This gives Bensussen time to unveil some well-conceived moonlight scenery, although even her actors seem aware that O'Neill's second half amounts to a protracted détente.Unfortunately, none of this gets off to a promising start. The beginning scenes of Ah, Wilderness! are almost painfully simple, explaining the characters' roles and personalities without any of their richer details. You might think that you are in for a cautious comedy of manners -- and in the case of the younger cast, that is partially what you will get throughout -- until the emotional fireworks in O'Neill's script start flaring. As prosperous New Englanders, Hess and Bloom energetically play against type in order to make their roles interesting. Van Wagner, whose character was actually based on O'Neill's alcoholic older brother, pulls off a similar feat, investing Sid with the unlikely self-awareness and complexity that the playwright intended.While O'Neill invites such compassionate ambivalence, his writing can also exhibit an overpowering lucidity. Perhaps on account of the script, Centerstage's portrayals of Muriel, Richard and the Miller siblings are somewhat monotone. These reduced renderings nonetheless facilitate a firm grasp of Ah, Wilderness!'s overriding themes, and are extremely helpful in understanding the total shape of O'Neill's imagined U.S.A.That fantasy of America, at first glance, seems earnestly infatuated with the power of love and the importance of family. It is pleasantly ironic to see that the elements of a play about harmony and unity should themselves coalesce so well -- from the actors to the scenery to the snippets of piano and harmonica music with which Bensussen often opens and closes scenes. Still, there is also a sense of stifled, romantic anguish in characters like Sid and Richard that comedy, at least on O'Neill's terms, could not explore. Ah, Wilderness!, despite its dialogue's invocations of Kipling and Wilde, should not be taken as a fully-worked intellectual statement. It can, in Centerstage's fine rendition, be wholeheartedly enjoyed.Ah, Wilderness! will be showing at Centerstage through April 15. Call (410) 322-0033 or visit http://www.centerstage.org for more information.

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