If you're a compulsive gambler, or thinking about becoming one, it probably isn't a good idea to see "The Gamester."

Nevada Conservatory Theatre's current production of Freyda Thomas' 2001 farce makes gambling seem a very sexy obsession. One character, old Uncle Dorante (Steve Peterson), has a monologue about the excitement of chance -- while Joe Varga's expert cartoon-casino set dances in lights -- that is so comically inspirational, it could easily drive a sane person from the theater to the tables.

The script, written in iambic pentameter, is loosely based on Jean-Francois Regnard's very Moliere-ish 17th century work "Le Joueur," but don't let the high-tone scare you. Director Michael Lugering's production is as easy to follow and enjoy as an intelligent sitcom.

The plot gives us a pleasure-loving but harmless young man, Valere (Stephen Crandall), who, for inheritance reasons, must choose between his happily wicked life, or Angelique (Lisa Easley), the woman who loves him. Surrounding the couple are a bevy of devious characters, all buffoonishly overdressed (by Katrina Hertfelder), and all plotting in pursuit of money and/or sex, and/or love.

It would be easy for all this frantic activity to dissolve into stupidity, but Lugering keeps a tight rein on the script's reality. We believe in these characters' strong needs, and so, accept their exaggerated behavior.

Crandall's a wonderfully sincere Valere. He communicates the joy of vice, and makes us understand why his character is having such a tough time becoming respectable. Brandon Burk's half-man, half-boy mannerisms make us root for him as Valere's loyal but befuddled servant. Melanie Ash, as Angelique's companion, is an amusing balance of snooty propriety and rottenness.

The three union actors are superb. Local Michael Tylo effortlessly communicates class and restraint as Valere's exasperated father. Long and lanky Peterson, as an old man trying to woo Valere's young fiancee and dressed in variations of green and gold topped by a shock of red hair, suggests "The Munsters' " Al Lewis, not as a bat, but as a fey reptile. And Jennifer Williams has no problem commandeering the enormous sensual appetites of the middle-aged Madame Securitee. She tops her comic performance with a moving monologue about the difficulties in being a woman growing old.

Nick Rissman's original music heightens the play's sense of giddiness.

Lugering occasionally overplays the comedy. There are one or three chase scenes that feel there for their own sake. And sometimes the tie-ins to Las Vegas are made too obvious (that's the sort of thing audiences should pick up on their own).

But "The Gamester" is often as lyrical as it is funny. Lugering almost always knows just how far to go with the material, and as a result he gets at the play's humanity as well its humor.

Anthony Del Valle can be reached at DelValle@aol.com. You can write him c/o Las Vegas Review-Journal, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125.