OVATION BY DEATH

Shoehorned at a moment's notice into a backwoods Maine company's production of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, sometime actress Vic Bowering has surprisingly little trouble stepping into the shoes of her predecessor, Garrett Heinrich, or slipping into the bed of her humpable leading man, TV star Nick Jacobs—even though she's being unfaithful to both her not-quite- ex Barry Laskin and her not-quite-lover Dan Duchinski (NYPD). But before the cast can begin rehearsals of composer/director Jonathan Resnick's alternate production—Oh, Mac!, a musical version of Macbeth—a series of suspicious mishaps threatens to sideline cast and crew alike, rousing Vic to wonder if the electrical accident that ended Garrett Heinrich's unlikely stardom was really such an accident after all. Though there are dark hints about volatile rivalries among Vic's men, somebody's ties to Sweet Cheeks Production's release of Angel Drawers, and the frenzy of actors' superstition that Macbeth always releases, this low-key whodunit is too good-natured to develop any of them into the threatened plot. It's nice to see Vic back in action after her three years off (Eviction by Death, 1993)—even though her bright, nervous chatter cuts through every moment of potential danger or passion like a foghorn. Looks like the Scottish play has another victim to answer for.