Patrick Graver and Jessica Ernest;  photos by Michael Portantiere.

                                   By Marc Miller

If you know “Funny Face” at all, it’s probably from the classic 1957 film version, which shares with its 1927 stage counterpart 1) Fred Astaire, 2) a handful of George and Ira Gershwin standards, and 3) little else. For a look at how the original differs from Paramount’s chic, Paris-based adaptation, head to the Lion Theatre, where Mel Miller’s Musicals Tonight! is letting loose with a rare and frisky staged rendering. It reveals “Funny Face” to be a prototypical 1920s musical comedy: star-driven, tuneful, and so inconsequential as to border on meaningless. Luckily, director-choreographer Casey Colgan knows the genre well, and has encouraged his likable cast to hard-sell the good stuff (the songs and dances) and tread quickly and lightly over the bad (the book).

The 1927 “Funny Face” was a vehicle for Astaire and his sister Adele; she was the bigger star, and though she was the titular heroine, her face wasn’t at all funny. The two had previously starred successfully in the Gershwins’ “Lady, Be Good!”, and a follow-up was inevitable. It wasn’t that easily assembled: The original title, “Smarty,” was scrapped, along with the original book writer, no less than Robert Benchley. Replacement librettists Fred Thompson and Paul Gerard Smith came up with a new plot, and there’s little evidence they labored hard on it. Musicals Tonight! has made cuts, which with a book like this can only be a good thing. What’s left is still of interest, for its 1920s name-dropping (Peggy Hopkins, Gene Tunney), Prohibition jokes (“Too much varnish!” exclaims an imbibing character), and assignment of most of the choice material to Adele—the Fred character really hasn’t that much to do.

Here, as gamely impersonated by Patrick Graver, he’s Jimmy, nimble-footed man about town and guardian to three wards of marriageable age. Dora (Caitlin Wilayto) is enamored of Dugsie (Blake Spellacy) and June (Whitney Winfield) of Jimmy, but Frankie (Jessica Ernest), the Adele, is the problem child.

Seth Dannen and Blake Spellacy;

She falls in love at regular intervals, most recently with the dashing aviator Peter (Seth Danner), and she lies more than Trump. It isn’t really worth going into detail about all this, is it? Let’s just note that some jewels will be stolen, Frankie’s diary will be lost, a couple of comic crooks (Bill Bateman and Edward Tolve) will roam the stage not very threateningly menacing the principals, several characters will pretend to somebody else, and it’ll all get sorted out in time for the hit-song-reprise finale. Character development is close to nil, and “Where’d you learn to kiss like that?” “Playing the saxophone” represents more or less the apogee of wit here.

It’s such a formidable Gershwin tune stack, blessed with such neat and playful Ira lyrics (if you’ve ever wondered how the second verse to “He Loves and She Loves” goes, here’s your chance), that we don’t much care how little the songs generally have to do with what little plot there is. The title song, which name-drops Gloria Swanson, is sweet on the ears, as are “’S Wonderful,” “My One and Only,” and such Gershwin curiosities as “The Babbitt and the Bromide” (a duet for the villains, in loud vaudeville plaids, because, well, why not) and “Tell the Doc” (wherein Dugsie is impersonating a doctor because—oh, skip it). The score’s emphasis is on fun, and few of the songs carry much emotional weight, though Winfield, given practically nothing to play, actually makes us care about June with a well-judged “How Long Has This Been Going On?” The dance breaks are frequent and lively, and the male ensemble even displays some impressive acrobatics for “High Hat.”

Caitlin Wilayto, Patrick Graver, and Whitney Winfield

Graver and Ernest don’t display anything like the sparkle Fred and Adele are reputed to have exhibited, but they’re pleasant company, and Colgan has ably instructed the whole cast in period playing: They keep the pace up, don’t lapse into camp or eye-roll at the awfulness of some of the jokes, and look like they’re having fun with the sort of flimsy script where the quickest way to clear a stage is to announce, “Hey, who wants more champagne?” The small Lion stage is colorfully dressed in Devin Vogel’s modest set, and whoever did the costumes—no one’s billed—did a splendid job. Musical director James Stenborg savors the bluesy Gershwin chords, keeps the tempos brisk, and supplies some fetching vocal arrangements.

This “Funny Face” is over in 105 minutes, thanks to the lively pace and welcome book chopping, and at least three-quarters of those 105 are entertaining. Mel Miller, in his traditional Musicals Tonight! opening speech, which offers both historical notes about the show at hand and details about what else was playing on Broadway and happening in popular culture at the time, noted that this is the 98^th production by his musical-mini-revival organization, and “we’re going to continue until they shoot us.” Based on this one, we’re very glad of that.

Running time: 1 hour 45 minutes, with one 15-minute intermission.

“Funny Face” plays at the Lion Theatre (410 West 42^nd St.) through Oct. 30. For tickets, visit Telecharge.com or call 212-239-6200.