Usually described as a black comedy, "The House of Blue Leaves" - the story of a New York zookeeper who dreams of escaping from marital martyrdom to become a Hollywood songwriter - demands a careful balance of angst and absurdity to work its malevolent magic.

The action takes place in 1965 on the day the pope arrived in New York City. Two-timing protagonist Artie Shaughnessy, sympathetically played by Lee Sullivan, is making plans to have his schizophrenic wife "Bananas" committed so that he can take a flyer with his mistress, Bunny Flingus. Unlikely as the storyline sounds, the play amuses; it prompted both spontaneous laughter and a standing ovation from TRTC's opening night house last Friday night.

Bunny, portrayed with flighty earnestness by Jennifer Michaud, believes that if she can get the Pope to bless Artie's music - to catch a ray glinting from his jeweled rings - they will go live in Hollywood and he'll become a success. She pushes the underachieving Artie into laying plans for their Tinseltown future by arranging a rendezvous with his childhood friend Billy Einhorn, a Hollywood movie producer who is played with an amusing smarminess by Richard Lyon.

Overhearing her husband tell Einhorn that she is as dead to him as Einhorn's deceased wife, Bananas retreats into one of her frequent animal fantasies. It's a tough role, but veteran actress Valerie Haugen makes the character palatable. Bananas sometimes dons animal masks, and when she wants to ingratiate herself with Artie, pants and begs like a dog. Bananas later remarks, "How lucky we all are. You going off to California and me going off to the loony bin."

Given the context of Shaunessy's shabby apartment and their cold, gritty Queens neighborhood, captured in a single stage set with barred windows and an overhanging gray backdrop of the Triborough Bridge, Bananas' remark is not wholly ironic. Everyone who lives here is looking for escape; maybe the loony bin would be a step up.

But the Shaunessy's AWOL-from-the-military son, Ronnie, has explosive plans that will derail Artie's trip to California, Einhorn's movie-making in Australia, and Bananas' move to the madhouse that Artie calls the "house of blue leaves."

To make this material work requires great comedic timing, over-the-top characterization, and strong casting. Under the direction of Thunder River Executive Artistic Director Lon Winston, a cast of new and veteran players makes it work. TRTC mixes up a nicely blended cocktail of affection, friction, and affliction that makes for an entertaining theatrical evening.