THEATER REVIEW:Classics with a farcical touch

You needn't be a student of European history or classical music to fully appreciate "Bach at Leipzig," the latest production at South Coast Repertory — although it certainly wouldn't hurt.

Playwright Itamar Moses — who concocted this tale of several organists vying to succeed the recently departed and universally venerated music master at the Thomaskirche cathedral of what eventually will become Germany — is aiming his period comedy both at the intelligentsia and the proletariat, simultaneously in fact.

Thus, as the learned musicians rant and rave over the fine points of their art, along with the current religious and political discourse of the day, they're also spinning a yarn of wordplay reminiscent of the Marx Brothers or Abbot and Costello. Refined chatter intermingles with pratfalls under the spirited direction of Art Manke.

The time is 1722 and Leipzig's master organist has just succumbed face down onto his instrument. This tragedy inspires high intellectual comedy as no fewer than seven noted organists make their bids to succeed to this prestigious post — along with an eighth, Johann Sebastian Bach, whom we never glimpse on stage.

The competitors, high minded as they may be, are not above a little bribery, blackmail or attempted murder to advance their cause. And the repertory's cast is a powerful ensemble of interpretive talents.

To begin with, the six principal competitors either are named Johann or Georg — three of each, which complicates matters of address somewhat. One has to "listen" for the commas to ascertain whether a character is being talked to or about, which is where the Marx Brothers humor surfaces.

As the erstwhile "hero" of the story, Stephen Caffrey impressively worms his way in and out of alliances, delivering a beautifully modulated, extended monologue from a jail cell to open the second act. Tony Abatemarco excels as the self-appointed guardian of the cathedral (to which he was never admitted while the master lived) and the perpetrator of the more outlandish schemes to capture or share power.

Jeffrey Hutchinson gleefully swipes his scenes (along with the belongings of his fellow organists) as the dirt-poor musician desperately pursuing the position. Erik Sorensen is fine as the youngest and most passionate competitor.