When "Lend Me a Tenor" was last seen at Paper Mill Playhouse three years ago, things had ended on a high note: The Cleveland Grand Opera Company's show was a rousing success, Max and Maggie shared their first kiss and Tito and Maria reconciled. 

When the same actors playing most of the same characters return to the Millburn stage for "A Comedy of Tenors," at the Playhouse through Feb. 26, they'll again face instances of mistaken identity, marital strife and general mayhem.

But how it all ends is anyone's guess.

"It's a natural sequel with the same kind of hijinks and the same spirit," said director Don Stephenson, who also directed the earlier Paper Mill production, of the latest one. "The great thing about it is there's real heart inside all of the comedy and silliness. As absurd as the situations may be, they're honest and the audience can see themselves in the characters."

"Lend Me a Tenor" -- which received nine Tony Award nominations when it began its Broadway run in 1989 -- was set in an Ohio hotel suite in 1934. It featured an egotistical opera singer, his jealous wife, an aspiring opera star and an an aspiring opera groupie. 

"A Comedy of Tenors," which had its world premiere at Princeton's McCarter Center in Fall 2015, is set two years later. The setting is again a hotel suite, but this one is in Paris. The opera star and his wife are back, the wanna-be star is now a genuine one and the groupie is his now-pregnant wife. There's a new conundrum involving a need for a good tenor and -- as before -- talented singers lurk behind every door in this fictional universe.

"That's the magic of the theater," playwright Ken Ludwig explained. "Theirs is a world filled with music and opera and that's the society they deal with. What's wonderful about them is that for two to three hours, they occupy a single world."

It's not coincidental that this play's title is taken from one of William Shakespeare's most farcical comedies. Both derive their humor from the same well of misunderstandings. Ludwig is a Shakespearean scholar and the author of the 2013 book, "How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare."

"I try to write with the same resonances and threads and sense of language and largeness and romance and joy and optimism, but not a false optimism," Ludwig said. (He added that his works aren't meant to be compared to the Bard's: "He's a God, but a cat can look at a king.")

The main characters from "Lend Me a Tenor" -- including opera singer Tito and his wife, Maria; show promoter Henry and new star Max -- are played by the same actors here. Maria, the groupie in the first play, isn't seen on stage in the second. The actress who played her has now been cast as this version's ingenue.  

"They know the characters so well it's like putting on a favorite pair of shoes or gloves," Stephenson said. "You get to love characters when you work on a show even though you know they're not real. When I found out Ken was writing a sequel, I thought, 'I can't wait to see what kind of messes they get into.'"

Paper Mill Playhouse

22 Brookside Drive, Millburn.

Tickets: $38 - 113, available online at https://tickets.papermill.org, through Feb. 26.

Natalie Pompilio is a freelance writer based in Philadelphia. She can be reached at nataliepompilio@yahoo.com. Find her on Twitter @nataliepompilio. Find NJ.com/Entertainment on Facebook. 

Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.