“Laugh-out-loud funny” isn't a phrase that should be thrown about with abandon on the local theater scene.

But it applies to Teatro de la Luna's season-ending production of “Volvió una Noche” (“She Returned One Night”), the local premiere of a work by playwright Eduardo Rovner of Argentina.

The story line could be universal: a mother (in this case, a protective Jewish mama from South America) learns from the grave that her only son, the doctor, is getting married, and returns to his life in order to make sure everything goes well.

Of course, everything most assuredly does not go well - where would the comedy be in that? - in large part because the son hasn't exactly been truthful when he makes his frequent visits to her grave to update her on events.

Mayhem breaks out: Only the son can see and hear his mother, and those around him begin to question his sanity as the situation starts to unravel.

The three leads are Teatro veterans: Peter Pereyra as Manny, the son; Nucky Walder as Fanny, his mother; and Anabel Marcano as Dolly, his fiancée. I worried whether these familiar faces (Pereyra and Marcano were cast together as leads in the troupe's biopic of Frida Kahlo) would take away some of the freshness of the show, but I needn't have been concerned.

The script is clever from start to finish, with plenty of farce and physical comedy - including my favorite kind, semi-clothed physical comedy! - and, perhaps a little too obviously, an ending that sends everyone out of the theater feeling all warm and happy.

Pereyra and Marcano are quite good, but it is Walder who makes the show her own, with abounding energy and comic timing.

In fact, everyone in the cast of eight performs well. To pick out a few supporting performers, Gerald Montoya and Alex Albuqueque are hoots as Manny's friends, who have been let in on the little secret of his mother's return, and Marcela Ferlito has a ball as an angel, sent to help Fanny make sure everything turns out all right.

(How a Christian archangel ended up helping those in a Jewish cemetery is part of the entertaining story line.)

An interesting side show is Rovner's depiction of what goes on at cemeteries when the living aren't looking; apparently, all the post-mortem pals are having plenty of fun. Good for them.

Director Mario Marcel's pacing is strong, and his handling of the physical situations is deft.

One “tsk-tsk”: A recent Saturday matinee started 15 minutes late, in order to accommodate a large number of stragglers who filtered into the theater on their own schedule. Why those of us who arrived on time - ahead of time, actually - should have been penalized for the latecomers escapes me.

That quibble aside, this was a very solid outing from the Teatro team, rounding out what has been an interesting and generally successful season.

The production is in Spanish, with English surtitles projected above the stage.

Washington Post Argentine's Comic Tango Too Often Drags Its Feet Special to The Washington Post Wednesday, May 14, 2008; Page C08 The machinery of farce churns determinedly but none too fast in Teatro de la Luna's "Volvió una Noche (She Returned One Night)." Written by Argentine dramatist Eduardo Rovner -- and performed in Spanish with English surtitles -- this occasionally inspired, lightweight entertainment provoked gales of laughter from audiences at one opening-weekend performance. Still, as directed by Mario Marcel, the production lacks the quicksilver pacing that might allow it to transcend its plug-in-the-variables comic plotline. That plotline, somewhat akin to "Blithe Spirit's," centers on an amiable young fellow named Manuel (Peter Pereyra), a pedicurist who has a regular gig as the violinist for a tango quartet. But in frequent chatty visits to the grave of his mother, Fanny (Nucky Walder), he has billed himself as a surgeon who moonlights as a classical musician. In case that weren't deception enough, he has given the deceased but still very lively Fanny -- who raised him in the Jewish tradition -- the impression that his fiancee, Dolly (Anabel Marcano), is of the same faith. In fact, she is Catholic. When a supernatural maneuver allows Fanny to visit Manuel's bachelor pad, his fibs and her presence lead to predictably ridiculous situations: concealments in the bathroom; a ruse involving a damaged toenail; a flap involving knishes; and so on. It all feels a little boilerplate -- with the exception of the funny cameos by an energetic archangel (Marcela Ferlito), who's somehow involved in the metaphysical kerfuffle. Arriving among the sociable Jewish dead folks in the cemetery, she hands out her business cards, and, on learning that she's not dealing with Christians, as she'd expected, sighs, "This globalization has me totally confused." As they have demonstrated in other Teatro de la Luna productions, Pereyra and Marcano are engaging performers blessed with fine comic timing, and they're able to infuse zing into certain sequences -- Manuel's double take when his mother materializes from a closet, for instance. Brandishing her sword and striking mock heroic poses, Ferlito is droll as the Archangel Lito, a sandaled, helmeted figure who looks as if she'd just stepped out of an ancient Greek phalanx. (The costume designers are Cecile Heatley, Rosita Becker and a one-namer, Loona.) Wearing an old-fogy dress with a high lace collar, Walder's Fanny putters about Manuel's home with convincing maternal crotchetiness (Marcel designed the cluttered bourgeois set, with its menorah stowed away on a cabinet), but some of her scenes feel a shade more sluggish than they should. The show's poise and pacing really falter, and its air of professionalism dips, with the entrance of the play's other figures, including Manuel's pals Aníbal (Alex Alburqueque) and Julio (Gerald Montoya) and Fanny's fellow dead people (including Cynthia Urrunaga and Alex López-Montañez). These minor characters have little stage time, but what with their plodding input and the script's run-of-the-mill farcical complications, it's a relief when Fanny heads back to the afterlife. Volvió una Noche (She Returned One Night) by Eduardo Rovner. Direction and set and sound design by Mario Marcel; lighting, Ayun Fedorcha. About 2 hours and 20 minutes. In Spanish with English surtitles. © 2008 The Washington Post Company