Well, the music's nice

If you don't mind off-key singing, technical ineptitude, clumsy dialogue and the hammiest acting this side of a Three's Company rerun, you might like Esther.

The new musical based on the Old Testament story has a few things going for it. Stephan Scott Lay, the local man who wrote the music, book and lyrics, did a nice job with the music.

The 21/2 hour show, staged by SLM Theater at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, is song-heavy. Almost all the songs are fairly melodic (not a common trait in modern musical theater), and a few are catchy.

And by far the most consistent and enjoyable elements of the show are the arrangements (by Lay and Greg Cannella) and the performance of the excellent 16-piece pit orchestra conducted by Robert Romanski.

Beyond the music, though, Esther is a mess.

Sure, some of the sets look good, though they seem to be designed for a much smaller stage. Michelle Croteau is solid in the title role, and Lona Lay's costumes are impressive if you're not overly concerned with historical accuracy.

But Lay's dialogue is laughable, and more often than not, the laughs are unintended. Sometimes characters use words such as "prithee" and "liege." Other times they say "hi" and "okay," and they use "party" as a verb.

Lay's lyrics are even more annoying. One example: "There's a party here in Susa, a party full of booze-a, a party you can't refuse-a."

Mercifully, a poor sound design renders most of the lyrics, and even a lot of the dialogue, incomprehensible.

When you can hear the singers, they're often painfully off-key.

Lay also directed Esther. (He also wrote and directed Uz: The Book of Job, performed at the Palladium Theater in St. Petersburg last year.) He treats his work with a heavy-handed, melodramatic style that's most evident in his performance and that of the actor who plays Haman.

Esther continues at 7:30 p.m. today and at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center's Ferguson Hall. Tickets are $19.50 to $34.50. (813) 229-7827.

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