Yellowknife (Feb 25/05) - To rehearse an in-and-out, rapid-fire, door-slamming farce, it helps to have the right number of doors at your disposal.

Though the set has yet to be finished, the rehearsal hall in the Yk Actors' Studio is part of a rabbit's warren of connecting rooms and corridors.

"There are almost enough doors," said Sean Daly, who plays Max, the beleaguered assistant.

"Not quite in the right spots, but we're faking it."

Lend Me a Tenor, by playwright Ken Ludwig, is a farce set in 1934.

It looks behind the scenes at the Cleveland Opera as the company prepares for its big 10th anniversary fundraiser with special guest Tito Morelli, the world's greatest tenor.

Things go awry when Morelli falls into a deep sleep, and the organizers think he's dead.

Though the Kitsch In Sync crew is nowhere near as dysfunctional as the Cleveland Opera, Daly said each person is ideally cast.

"Everyone has been cast well," said Daly.

"Erica Tesar is wonderful in everything she plays and she's the grande dame, the chair of the opera board. Martin (Dubeau) plays the Italian tenor and he's great. Andrea (Evanson) is the bombshell that she is. Ken Woodley is the boss.

"And I'm sort of the nebbishy running-around guy. That's my type."

Daly's character Max ends up having to pretend to be the tenor and has to fend off the advances of both the gold-digging diva Diana and his boss's daughter, Maggie.

Despite the fact it takes place around an opera gala, it's a comedy, not a musical. There's only enough singing to set the scene, said Daly.

As with most Christopher Foreman productions, the costumes could put on a show by themselves.

"Mine's fine. It fits," said Daly. "It's the women who get the extra attention."

Such as Marianne Maltby, who plays the Italian tenor's long-suffering wife. Daly referred to her yellow and black costume as the "bumblebee outfit".

"Boy, she's done up like some sort of ... tart," he said.

"Like some confectionary thing from Paris."

Overall, Daly thinks the play is perfect for March, when winter has dragged on far too long and people need a pick-me-up.

"I think it'll be a gas," he said. "People can come out of their caves and have a laugh."

Lend Me a Tenor runs March 3 to 5 and March 10 to 12 at NACC. s