Set in San Francisco, the play is a takeoff on every detective thriller ever made. They're all here: the bumbling detective Nate Nietzche, Shirley the sultry songbird with a Dark Past, archcriminal Fat Guy and his rival/lover Sue Manchu.

TheatreWorks West did the play two years ago. Now, on their new large stage, the set and action are expanded. John Cook, scene designer, and Catherine Owens, lighting designer, create an exciting and dramatic backdrop. Costumes (by Steve Rasmussen) are campy, funny and also do a lot to set the mood.From the opening moments, the audience is ready to laugh. Unfortunately, after a few quickly flashed scenes in which we see all the main characters and a murder committed behind the window of Wing Wong's Laundry - the play settles into humdrum for a few scenes. It needs to grab us sooner.

Eventually it does grab us. With the entrance of Karen Nielson, as Shirley, the pace picks up. Hers is the only voice that is never drowned out by the band. She's brash. She's deceitful. The audience likes her.

Because of Nielson, we start caring a little bit about Nate (Larry West). We start laughing at Freida the Foreigner, played quite humorously by Trudy Jorgensen with a Germanic accent on French phrases.

About halfway through Act 1, we finally catch the mood and are ready to appreciate the one-liners. My favorite, still, even on the second hearing, is spoken by Stacy Sherwood Riekhof playing Sue Manchu: "Fat Guy, I can see right through you."

Good moments: The song, "Fat Guy Swings," because of David Spencer's voice and self-satisfied expression. The dance sequence to "You Murder Me." And the second to the last finale - and I think this is the way it ended originally or it at least could end here quite nicely - which is an inspired parody of opera.

"Foggiest Notion" was a clever play the first time around. It is still a clever play, none the worse for having several songs cut out and more stage room in which to dance and run. Despite its flaws, it makes us long for more original works by the same authors.

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