(Enlarge) Jonathon Ruckman plays the mysterious newcomer to a divided Western town in the campy off-Broadway play “Johnny Guitar: The Musical,” continuing weekends through June 7 at the Fells Point Corner Theatre in Fells Point. (Photo by Ken Stanek)

The Joan Crawford-starring 1953 western movie "Johnny Guitar" is so melodramatically over-the-top that it was a ripe candidate to be turned into a campy stage musical. Off-Broadway's 2004 response, "Johnny Guitar: The Musical," has its funny moments, but they're only fitfully realized in a Fells Point Corner Theatre production that needs more snap.

This show's book by Nicholas van Hoogstraten is sending up the Freudian implications of some Western movies from the '50s and '60s, while the music and lyrics by Martin Silvestri and Joel Higgins lock into that period by having cowboy characters sing doo-wop arrangements.

There's nothing remarkably clever in this material, but it's mildly amusing. It needs to be delivered with a light touch, and that's where the local production directed by John Hurley disappoints. It's often as labored and sluggish as the scene changes taking place beneath a saloon's wagon wheel chandelier.

What prevents this production from soaring, however, is that only one of the cast members has a voice capable of soaring. Most of the voices are adequate, but the performers seem focused on just trying to get though numbers that admittedly involve more exposition than vocalization.

Likewise, the performers often seem mechanical as they execute the gun-pointing choreography by Timoth David Copney within the theater's tight stage space. A few of them essentially just need to loosen up and have more fun.

In the dramatically extreme story, Vienna (Maribeth Vogel Eckenrode) runs a saloon with imperious authority. She has a history, as they say, with an enigmatic fellow, Johnny Guitar (Jonathon Ruckman), who suddenly appears in town.

Vienna is at odds with the town's banker, Emma (Julie Bauer), and the town's business tycoon, McIvers (Mike Ware). These characters squabble over property, and there's also romantic jealousy in their intertwined lives.

Although this musical tends to take a live-action cartoon approach to exploring those relationships, that's not necessarily a liability in a show that aspires only to be a goofy spoof. In fact, the most humorous running joke involves a guitar being emphatically strummed by an on-stage band member whenever Johnny Guitar's name is mentioned.

More than that guitar musically registers in this production. The capable five-piece band directed by Liz Dunbar is a cowboy-hatted ensemble that gets into the spirit of things to such an extent that they unfortunately tend to ride on top of singing voices that in any event need to be more assertive.

The one performer who vocally rises to the occasion is Jim Knost as a character known as Dancin' Kid. Knost's confident singing in such numbers as "What's In It For Me?" and "The Gunfighter" crackles like a rifle shot in the Wild West.

"Johnny Guitar: The Musical" runs through June 7 at Fells Point Corner Theatre, at 251 S. Ann St. in Fells Point. Performances are Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m. There are also Thursday performances May 28 and June 4 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20 for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, $10 for Thursday. Call 410-276-7837 or go to www.fpct.org.

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