When J. T. Rogers was commissioned by the Salt Lake Acting Company to write a play, his instructions were on the order of “Do whatever you want. Just make it weird.”

The result was MADAGASCAR, in its West Coast premiere through Aug. 3 at North Coast Repertory Theatre, directed by David Ellenstein.

“People disappear all the time,” says June (Christy Yael), a 30-something young woman who works as a tour guide at the ruins in Rome. Then she launches into a tour spiel, with choice and funny comments about typical tourists.

The disappearance in question is that of June’s unseen twin brother Gideon Paul, slated to meet his mother at the Rome airport five years ago, who didn’t get off the plane and hasn’t been seen since.

“Those who aren’t found, nine times out of 10 it’s because they chose to go missing,” June tells us. She speaks directly to the audience, as will both of the other major characters: June’s mother Lilian (Rosina Reynolds), a widowed jetsetter, and Nathan (Frank Corrado), Lilian’s lover and an economist, a colleague of her dead husband Arthur. They each describe their lives from the same place: Lilian’s favorite, now going-to-seed hotel room in downtown Rome, near the Spanish Steps.

Madagascar, the island to which Arthur often claimed to be going to work, is used by Lilian and the children as a romantic place of escape.

MADAGASCAR is an overlapping puzzle, a story about memory, guilt, isolation, things done and not done, both annoying and satisfying, wonderfully literate and maddening in its enigmas. Rear and side projections illustrate the script; Bach’s sixth cello suite provides musical accompaniment.

The requested weirdness is in the play’s unusual structure. The characters speak to the audience rather than to each other because each inhabits a different time frame: Lilian, five years ago, on the day she is to meet her son’s plane; June, a few days ago; Nathan, the present. It takes a little getting used to, but works wonderfully to reinforce the psychic isolation of these characters.

Reynolds is perfect in this part (as she has been in every other part I’ve seen her in). Lilian is elegant, loving, cruel and autocratic, almost all at once. It’s a tour de force performance. She’s convinced herself that life is as she reports it. It’s up to you to decide how close she is to the truth.

Yael’s June, the less favored child (by Lilian’s admission), is quieter than her mother, but conveys the impression she has secrets she’s not telling. Not even here.

Corrado’s Nathan is a strong presence crumbling under the weight of the lies and infidelity which have tortured him to the point of bad dreams. “Life gives you what you want in strange ways,” he notes.

MADAGASCAR isn’t perfect. Rogers’ penchant for circularity gets him into a little trouble. Nathan’s opening dream is paired toward the end with a Greek statue of Demeter, Persephone and Triptolemus; the connection is tenuous at best, and seems pointless. And June’s motivations aren’t as clear as I’d like.

But it’s a dense, intelligent play which manages to be both serious and witty at the same time. You’ll laugh, you’ll wonder, and most of all you’ll leave the theater wanting to discuss it with someone. There is little better one can say about any piece of art.

MADAGASCAR plays through Aug. 3 at North Coast Repertory Theatre. Shows Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m.; Sunday matinee at 2 p.m.; select Wednesdays at 7 p.m. and select Saturday matinees at 2 p.m. For tickets call 858-481-1055 or visit www.northcoastrep.org.

It’s tough to get into a woodsy mood when airplanes are screaming by overhead every 10 minutes or so, but Starlight Theatre’s fine cast gamely try to ignore the decidedly un-woodsy noise in their production of Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods. The show plays at Starlight Bowl through July 27, directed by Brian Wells.

Into the Woods is a musical fairy tale collision. Cinderella (Sarah Bermudez) dreams of going to the festival while she helps her ugly, mean stepsisters (Jennifer Wilcove, Rory Patterson) prepare. The baker (Tom Andrews) and his wife (Carly Nykanen) seek supernatural relief for their infertility problem; Jack’s mother (Patti Goodwin), in an effort to stay afloat financially, prepares to send her son (Paul Peglar) to market with their cow Milky White; Little Red Riding Hood (Lili Fuller) is about to go into the woods to grandmother’s house while the wolf (Mauricio Mendoza) waits; Rapunzel (Laura Marie Gira) waits for the right guy; and her mom the witch (Leigh Scarritt) does mischief. And then there’s the unseen female giant.

And all (except the giant) share the stage, often at the same time.

Sondheim does not write soaring melodies. Intricate rhythms and clever rhymes are his stock in trade, set to note patterns unsingable by any but the trained singer. This lyric-driven show with its jittery, word-drunk songs was not well suited to this outdoor locale on this particular Friday night, given the flight schedule. The addition of annoying bird sounds before the show and at intermission did not help.

Nonetheless, Wells has a cast perfectly capable of negotiating Sondheim’s music. My favorites are Bermudez and Nykanen, whose rich, lush voices left me wanting more. Fuller is perfect for Red Riding Hood, as is Scarritt, whose transformational Witch looks and sounds great (and scary). Peglar is great as the adorable if slightly vague Jack, Jason Heil and Mendoza’s princes play well off each other and the rest of the cast is fine as well. Tayna Bishop’s costumes and Jennifer Edwards’ lighting design are additional pluses.

Into the Woods, nominated for 10 Tonys and winner of three, has a local connection. It previewed at the Old Globe in 1987 before its Broadway opening.

Into the Woods plays through July 27 at Starlight Theatre. Shows Thursday through Sunday at 8 p.m. For tickets call 619-544-7800 or visit www.starlighttheatre.org.

Gamblers, dancers and mission dolls meet in Frank Loesser’s classic musical Guys and Dolls, playing thorugh July 20 at Moonlight Amphitheatre.

First produced in New York in 1950, Guys and Dolls won five Tonys and has since become one of the best-loved musicals of all time. Blessed with a score of more than 15 tuneful songs and those unforgettable Damon Runyon characters who could only live in New York, Guys and Dolls is a perfect way to spend a summer evening.

Nathan Detroit (Lance Arthur Smith) is the go-to guy for crap game action, but today he’s having trouble finding a place for the game. The heat is on, Lt. Brannigan (Ted Leig) is breathing down Detroit’s neck and “there’s a lock on the door to the gym at P.S. 84.”

Meanwhile, Nathan’s girlfriend of 14 years, Hot Box dancer Miss Adelaide (Tracy Lore) is tired of waiting for that golden band while telling her mother fantasy stories about her wedding and the five kids that followed.

Nathan makes a sucker bet with high roller Sky Masterson (David S. Humphrey) that the charming Sky will not be able to take a girl of Nathan’s choice to dinner. A win will net Detroit the $1,000 he needs to front the owner of a local garage to use his place for the game. When Nathan names Salvation Army doll Sarah Brown (Beth Obregon), the plot is set.

Director and choreographer John Vaughan has found a cast of superb singing actors, headed by Obregon, who navigates notes high and low with equal ease and a beautiful tone. Humphrey convinces – and he can sing – as Sky, and he and Obregon make an attractive pair both visually and musically.

Lore’s Miss Adelaide belts out a number with ease and panache, though I wish her accent had been a bit more pronounced and consistent. She needs to establish her Brooklyn creds before singing about “poils” and “goils.”

Ralph Johnson (as missionary Arvide Abernathy) does some lovely work on “More I Cannot Wish You” and James Gruessing, Jr. makes the most of his show-stopping “Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat.” And Ambra Waterfield’s costumes – especially for the Hot Box girls – are a hoot.

Next summer, Moonlight expects to be in its new digs, a description of which is in the program. A mock up is also on display. The improvements should eliminate such problems as the opening-night errant fly and sound cues.

Guys and Dolls is in the top five in my pantheon of greatest musicals of all time. If you haven’t seen it, hurry: it closes July 20. If you know the show, here’s your chance to see it again.

Guys and Dolls plays through July 20 at Moonlight Amphitheatre in Vista. Shows Wednesday through Sunday at 8 p.m. For tickets call 760-724-2110 or visit www.vistixonline.com.