With mistaken identities, romantic entanglements, behind-the-scenes shenanigans and lots of slamming doors, “Lend Me a Soprano” is perhaps a textbook example of a madcap comedy.

“Lend Me a Soprano,” a gender-swapped take on “Lend Me a Tenor,” both of which were written by Ken Ludwig, takes place in 1934 in a two-room hotel suite, with a sitting area on one side and a bedroom on the other.

At the top of the show, Lucille Wiley (Kathie Doyle-Lipe), the manager of the Cleveland Grand Opera Company, and her assistant Jo (Sarah Plumb) are in the suite anxiously awaiting world-class soprano Elena Firenzi (Hannah Matchell), who is set to perform the starring role in “Carmen” for one night only.

Also awaiting Elena’s arrival is Jerry (Trevor Caragan), Lucille’s daughter and Jo’s boyfriend. Jerry is a big fan of Elena and has his fingers crossed that he’ll get to meet her.

As divas are wont to do, Elena arrives late, with her passionate but jealous husband Pasquale (Erik Contzius) in tow. Though a bit of a problem after her arrival, Elena takes a liking to Jo, even going so far as to give her a singing lesson.

After a series of misadventures, including a “Dear Jane” letter and a death that isn’t what it seems, it’s unclear whether Elena will be fit to perform. Rather than cancel the performance though, Lucille concocts a plan in which Jo will take Elena’s place.

The second act then features Elena and Jo being mistaken for one another by just about everyone as they travel into and out of the hotel suite. On top of that, Elena and Jo are pursued by two amorous men on the prowl, both of whom think they’re connecting with Elena.

“Lend Me a Soprano” also stars John Jacob Bernal as the bellhop, Michael Barfield as Leo, a member of the Cleveland Grand Opera Company and Deborah Marlowe as Julia, the chairwoman of the opera guild.

“Lend Me a Soprano” is directed by Heather McHenry-Kroetch and runs Friday through Feb. 16 at Spokane Civic Theatre.

Civic produced “Lend Me a Tenor” during its 2001-02 season, and McHenry-Kroetch remembers Lake City Playhouse producing “Lend Me a Tenor” about a decade ago, but this production marks the first production of “Lend Me a Soprano,” which premiered in 2022 in the area.

Before tackling “Lend Me a Soprano,” McHenry-Kroetch assumed the play would be almost exactly like “Lend Me a Tenor,” save for the gender swapped roles. She found that Ludwig did a thorough rewrite of the show so the story makes sense with women at the helm.

“He got a little more heart and humanity in it, maybe even a little funnier,” she said. “It’s different, so I was intrigued by that.”

 

Unlike a comedy like “Noises Off,” during which audiences see moments of the play-within-a-play, “Lend Me a Soprano” doesn’t actually feature a performance of “Carmen.” There is little singing in the show, which instead dances around the performance, alluding to it through memories shared by the characters in the second act.

(As a side note, there is a musical adaptation of “Lend Me a Tenor” featuring a book and lyrics by Peter Sham and music by Brad Carroll that opened in the West End in 2011.)

“Lend Me a Soprano” instead leans fully into the world of farcical theater with madcap dashes into and out of the hotel suite. To help achieve this effect, McHenry-Kroetch’s set features several specially built “super solid” doors through which the characters enter and exit abruptly or slam shut in an attempt to conceal themselves.

“I wanted really good slam sounds,” she said with a laugh.

In keeping with the down-to-the-minute schedule of theater, the cast has only recently been able to rehearse with the actual doors, but McHenry-Kroetch said they’re easily handling the transition between “working with thin air” to really making an entrance, or exit, depending on the scene.

“Each and every person in this cast is extremely talented and doing really great work …” she said. “It’s a big show, and it’s a big production, and I am very proud of them.”

Between the current production in the Firth J. Chew Studio Theatre, “Sweat,” a play that, in short, details the rise and fall of industrial towns and the people who call them home, and the next main stage production, Shakespeare’s tragedy “Romeo and Juliet,” “Lend Me a Soprano” is lighter fare that still delivers a story with heart.

It comes at a time, McHenry-Kroetch said, when people are in need of an opportunity to slip away from the real world for two hours and enjoy an over-the-top story like the one presented in “Lend Me a Soprano.”

“This is a good time of year, and maybe even a good year, for people to be able to sit back and laugh,” she said. “It’s the time of year I always want to be laughing, and it’s a sweet show. There’s good relationships and a good story and it’s heartwarming and funny. I think, ‘Boy, January is always a good time for heartwarming and funny.’ ”