On the face of it, "Zanna, Don't" is one of the frilliest, most ridiculous musicals ever concocted. The title character literally puts the story into motion with the wave of his magic wand (that is not a euphemism), and more than a quarter of the songs in the show have the word "love" in their titles. That's not a bad thing - we could all use a little more camp in our theatrical diets, I think. But toward the end of Act I, the show takes a much more thoughtful, political turn. While it remains completely over-the-top, it also reveals itself to be smarter than it has any right to be, in addition to almost criminally fun to watch. The regional premiere of the show is an ambitious undertaking for a smaller local theater troupe like Everyone's Theatre Company, but a strong show and a solid core cast make it a mostly successful adaptation.

An official part of Rochester's 2009 Pride Week, "Zanna, Don't" is g-g-g-gay. In fact, it's set in a world where gay is the norm; guys date guys, girls date girls, babies are made via surrogacy, and the school chess team is home to all the dreamiest hunks while the football squad toils away, barely noticed. Presiding over all of the romantic affairs of Heartsville High is young Zanna, a fairy in every sense of the term, who uses his magical abilities to fix up the lovelorn even as he himself suffers the stings of a lonely adolescence. After Zanna creates a love connection between new football jock Steve and chess champ Mike and pairs up needy Roberta with reluctant Kate, things seem peachy keen. That is, until the drama club decides to stage a daring original musical advocating for - gasp! - the inclusion of heterosexuals into the military. The musical-within-a-musical is a gleefully subversive scene, but the show ends up biting its creators in their designer jean-covered asses when two cast members of the opposite sex do the unthinkable and actually fall in love with one another.

Even at its most absurd, "Zanna Don't" remains charming, and is loaded with clever lines and catchy songs. While the first few numbers of the night I was in the audience were choppy due to what I assume were opening-night jitters, by halfway through the first act the show had gelled, and a strong group of leads pulled the show through, even when some of the larger group song-and-dance numbers got a little dicey.

Take for instance "Ride ‘Em," where aggressive Roberta woos Kate in front of the mechanical bull-riding club. The song is great, the scene itself is brilliant - it even features a mock riding bull - but the cast looked awfully tentative while employing the group choreography. They mostly pulled it off, but every ounce of stress showed on their faces and there was a lot of staring at the floor. Thankfully, Laura Marron (Roberta) and Rachel Pasternak (Kate) are so charismatic, and such strong singers, that they commanded most of the attention in the scene.

Mike (Ricky Schroeder - not that Ricky Schroder) and Steve (Jeff Clair) do an equally strong job on their songs together, and do a wonderful job with their solos in "I Could Write Books" and "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" respectively. I was honestly a little worried about Chris Eklund as Zanna when he first appeared in stage, sashaying it up and singing in a somewhat pinched tone. Characters that play to those stereotypes typically get old very fast. But it became clear that Eklund was intentionally overdoing the affectations (he cites "Legally Blonde's" Elle Woods as a source of inspiration for his "Emma"-like character, and it shows), and he showed impressive restraint during his emotional "Some Day You Might Love Me" toward the end of the show.

As with most community theaters, the rest of the cast is made up of actors of varying skill levels, although everyone seemed to be having fun with the show, which is ultimately the point. A bit of advice for the tertiary leads: slow down. Several actors, one in particular, consistently rushed through lines and babbled through songs, and it was nearly impossible to make out what was being said on opening night. It's nerve-wracking, but the material is good. Give it its due.

When you have a good cast and a crowd-pleasing show, the little things can detract from the overall theater experience. While again acknowledging that ETC is a community theater troupe, it's important to point out that opening night was plagued with technical issues. Curtains not opening when they were supposed to; curtains opening when they weren't supposed to; mics dropping out for actors and singers in the middle of scenes; loud mic pops throughout the show - it was distracting. A few more tech rehearsals might have been in order to fully work out the kinks.

Zanna, Don't: A Musical Fairy Tale

Through July 17

Everyone's Theatre Company, Inc.

School of the Arts, 45 Prince St.

Wed-Fri 7:30 p.m. | $15 | everyonestheatre.com