Sometimes, the star of the show isn't onstage. That's the case with Ariel Performing Arts' San Diego premiere of "Zanna Don't! A Musical Fairy Tale" and the show is stronger for it.

The star, in this case, is director Ira Spector, a grad student in SDSU's famed musical theatre program, who gave a wonderfully nuanced performance as genius/jerk Ed Kleban in last fall's "A Class Act." But, Mr. Spector also portrayed Zanna, the "fairy" of his local high school whose magic helps his fellow students to fall in love, in the Chicago production of Tim Acito and Alexander Dinelaris' musical, and he brings his insights into what makes this piece of fluff so enjoyable to Ariel's production at the Roosevelt Theatre.

You see, Zanna has a heart of gold and a magic wand that leads him to the lovelorn. And, it helps his cause that Heartsville High isn't any ordinary place. Heartsville's student body is lesbian and gay, and while the football team hasn't won a game, chess is big with the boys and finess in riding mechanical bulls makes the girls' team a winner. Oh, it isn't all utopian bliss: there's the usual crabby principal to get in the kids' way and a school board that wants to ban books about heterosexual couples from the library. But, mostly Heartsville is a happy place.

That is, until the kids write a musical for the drama club's spring production that features a heterosexual kiss. The students who are cast as the characters who kiss (Zachary Bryant and Sonia Balanay) don't want to do it. They are both happily same-sex coupled (with Ritchie Diego Valenzuela and Whitney Shay), and even a stage kiss feels as though they are being disloyal. But, when the kiss actually happens, things start to change, and Zanna's powers are challenged as he tries to bring heart back to Heartsville.

Mr. Acito's music reflects the bouncy boyancy of the book, and his songs contain enough pop hooks to keep audiences moving along with the beat. Amy Dalton and Patrick Marrion's music direction keeps things moving as well, and the choral parts shine.

Mr. Spector paces the show briskly, uses the Roosevelt's large stage well and makes a sparse set and lighting design (by Shaun Tuazon and O. P. Hadlock) work to his advantage. Mostly, though, he energizes his cast and gives them cute pieces of business to play, which encourages the audience to overlook the fact that some cast members are in over their heads as musical soloists. And, the choreography, by Mssrs. Valenzuela and Spector, is consistently the highlight of the evening.

"Zanna Don't" is the first production by Ariel Performing Arts and is clearly a labor of love for Producer Ron Tov. Let's hope that "Zanna" is the big hit it deserves to be and that we'll see more from this company.

Ariel Performing Arts presents Zanna, Don’t! – A Musical Fairy Tale, performing Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings through May 10 at the Roosevelt Theatre, 3366 Park Boulevard (at Upas). Book, music, and lyrics written by Tim Acito, with Additional book and lyrics by Alexander Dinelaris. Director: Ira Spector; Musical Direction by Amy Dalton and Patrick Marion. With Sonia Balanay (Kate), Simon Barrett (Officer Klotsky, Cindy and Others), Trevor Bowles (Arvin, Principal Cooper, Tex and Others), Zachary Bryant (Steve), Stephanie Hester (Karla, Mabel and Others), Cashae Monya (Candi, Loretta and Others), Bradley Sattler (Tank), Whitney Shay (Roberta), Shaun Tuazon (Zanna), and Ritchie Diego Valenzuela (Mike).

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