Holly Hughes’s hilarious 1983 lesbian film noir comedy holds up well with this new staging, the first Philadelphia performance in over a decade.

Told episodically like a 1940s radio play, The Well of Horniness tells the sexy (and silly) tale of a reformed lesbian who goes on the run after the murder of her finance’s sister, with whom she just happened to have had a sexual dalliance with prior to the crime. Did this daffy dame do the deed or was it the work of the hard-bitten hat check girl who holds a grudge? The lady detective on the case is sure to discover the real culprit, but only after sleuthing around and thoroughly investigating this absurdly crazy cast of characters. Ultimately, you may not care whodunit, but the journey getting there is a whole lot of fun.

The breakneck pacing of this campy romp relies heavily on the narrator who, perched on the corner of the stage away from the action, read his lines from a script located on the top of a musical stand. Although his rendition of an old-timey radio announcer voice was decent, the actor fluffed more than a handful of lines and thereby interrupted the flow of the comedy. The cast as a whole, though enthusiastic, could have benefited from a few more rehearsals in order to smooth out the rough edges of an otherwise delightful experience.