Music by Howard Marren. Book by Jeffrey Sweet. Lyrics by Susan Birkenhead. Based on the play Luv by Murray Schisgal. Directed by Mark Carter. A Down Stage Right production. At the Waterfront Theatre on Friday, November 5. Continues until November 13

So much talent! What’s not to Luv?

The musical is based on Murray Schisgal’s 1964 play Luv, a cheesy satire on romantic fickleness. Harry, an eccentric loser, is about to jump off a bridge when an old school friend, Milt, happens along and saves him. Success-story Milt only has one problem: he’s in love with a coworker, but his wife, Ellen, won’t give him a divorce. Along comes Ellen, Milt conveniently disappears, and lo and behold, Ellen and Harry fall in love! A year later, everyone’s back on the bridge, but love has taken a different turn.

Howard Warren’s catchy tunes work with Jeffrey Sweet’s book and Susan Birkenhead’s lyrics to celebrate the story’s cartoonish qualities. In “Paradise”, the men compete to see who had the most miserable childhood. In “I Believe in Marriage”, Ellen imagines her dream lover, who’s “mad for Fellini, makes great fettuccine, and doesn’t mind losing his hair”. Director Mark Carter candy-coats it all into a luscious treat.

He’s helped by a top-notch cast, all of whom are excellent. Scott Walters’s Harry is a big, weird kid: he spends the whole first act looking like he’s on the verge of throwing up, and one of his deepest moments comes in “My Brown Paper Hat”, a love song to a bag. Neil Minor is all confident bluster as Milt; he can’t keep his hands off people, whether he’s playfully slapping Harry’s cheek or spraying breath freshener in Ellen’s mouth. Meghan Gardiner is a delightfully deadpan Ellen with a New Yawk accent that could peel paint.

Carter capitalizes on the trio’s skills, ramping up the play’s physical comedy, and Ken Overbey’s superb choreography has the performers doing everything from cheerleading cartwheels to sultry tango. Minor, in particular, channels the spirit of vaudeville through his rubbery limbs.

Musical director and keyboardist Sylvia Zaradic anchors a tight four-piece orchestra, which attacks Marren’s lively score with energy and precision. Kerri Norris’s costumes colourfully evoke the ’60s, and set designer John Bessette spans the stage with a handsome, sturdy bridge railing flanked by streetlights, leaving plenty of downstage space for the cast to strut their stuff.

See it. Luv it. You’ll leave happy.