The Fair Oaks Theatre Festival is nothing if not adventurous. Convention – and conventionality – be damned.

Each summer, the organization partners with the American River College Theatre Arts Department to present musical theater under the stars – whether it be original productions or frisky, campy restagings of familiar works.

This year's two-show festival is no different. There's the original – an utterly new and charming "She Stoops To Conquer" set to music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, which opened Friday. And there's the familiar – a staging of "The Fantasticks," the longest-running musical in American theater, which will play Aug. 14-Sept. 13. The force behind both is Bob Irvin, who will direct "The Fantasticks," and who adapted and directed "She Stoops To Conquer."

Taking the classic comedy of manners by Oliver Goldsmith as its starting point, "Conquer" ranges freely. Irvin introduces a new character, Martha Moth-Eton of Mozart-Adorers Anonymous, who introduces the play as a newly discovered opera by the great composer. The plot involves the efforts of a wealthy country gentleman Dick Hardcastle (the properly polished Daniel Slauson) to marry off his daughter Kate (Brianne Hidden) to the son (Kyle Welling) of his old friend, Sir Charles Marlow (Charles Preston, effective in a brief appearance). Young Marlowe, however, has difficulty in dealing with women of his own class, finding it much easier to chat up, court or befriend a working-class girl, such as a barmaid. Welling is well-suited to this part, stammering and looking down in the presence of the luscious Kate, but charming and at ease around others – and her, when he doesn't know who she is.

It is Kate, of course, who "stoops" here, pretending to be a servant in her father's home to "conquer" Kyle's fear of a woman who might be his equal, and thus, save the hoped-for marriage.

A subplot involves the secret wooing of Constance Neville (the lovely Analise Langford-Clark) by George Hastings (Jonathan Blum, perfectly suited to the role of suitor) and the efforts of Constance's aunt Dorothy Hardcastle (Janet Matranga, often hilariously decked out and striving for propriety) to hook her up instead with her son by a previous marriage, Tony Lumpkin (the comically adept Joseph Hart).

The usual comic misunderstandings, misdirections, dancing (choreography by Sunny Smith), drinking, curtseying and courtesies ensue until, inevitably, everything works out in the end.

"She Stoops To Conquer – The New Mozart Musical" is an ambitious bit of theater. Oliver Goldsmith's comedy, first performed in 1773, has been set to a selection of music by Mozart. Blum, so good as an actor, adapted the music admirably. Lucy D'Mot did the orchestrations.

Kate Styrsky wrote the lyrics – tricky and clever – to fit such compositions as contredances, piano pieces, rondos and others.

She has created 20 songs for the score, and several of them are outstanding.

"The Salt of the Earth," a contredance paean to the working classes, which opens the show, and the reprise of "Drink! Love!," which closes it are among them. "The Fruit and the Tree," a father's song about his daughter, is performed admirably by Slauson; the plot-elucidating "Exposition" is sung nicely by Hidden and Langford-Clark and the lovely "Pretty Little Jewelry Box," is performed solidly by Hart and Blum .

The costuming by Gail Russell, set design by Bob Musser and the lighting by Kathy Burleson complete the worthy production.

Call The Bee's Jim Carnes, (916) 321-1130.