"Pinch me! Maybe I'm dreaming," said Warren Ashburn when I asked how he handled making the giant one-genre-to-another leap from the musical "Man of La Mancha" for the Old Schoolhouse Players to the farce "Lend Me a Tenor" at Little Lake Theatre. Luck must have had something to do with what he pulled off this season: Snaring the roles of eccentric knight Don Quixote and egomaniacal opera star Tito Morelli, with only a few weeks between the assignments. Or maybe not.

Carol Lauck would scoff at luck and insist that nothing except talent opens doors for the leading man she's directing in "Lend Me a Tenor," which begins its three-week run Thursday night. While preparing for last Thursday's rehearsal, she told me "A script note advises that it's more important to have good actors in the singing roles than good singers, and we managed to have both."

If you saw Ashburn's performance in "Man of La Mancha" - a character study made believable by the gusto, vulnerability and vocal power he brought to Don Quixote - you know why Lauck praises the actor for his range. The man himself thinks it's his "long love affair with opera" and his familiarity with the play's inside jokes that make "Lend Me a Tenor" a breezy exercise after the acting workout he had doing the OSP production in May. Besides, he added, "I remember seeing the original 'Tenor' on Broadway and thinking 'I've got to play Tito someday.'"

As for my question about how quickly he shed one character and got under the skin of another, Ashburn remembered the time in Reading when the work of someone he highly respects, Stephen Sondheim, ruled his life 24/7 and pushed him to the limit as a trouper. After rehearsing the Judge Turpin role in "Sweeney Todd" at one theater, he crossed the street and played Frederik in "A Little Night Music" at another theater. "Was that good fortune, stupidity or just masochism?," he asked.

At Little Lake, the "Lend Me a Tenor" cast includes Jesse Warnick (like Ashburn, a singer/actor who "can hold his own with any performer," said Lauck), and also present are Mary Meyer, Lynne Martin Huber, Dennis Gills, Ina Block, Gus Melis and Renee Ruzzi-Kern.

Hometown boys

Jude Pohl knows a thing or two about legendary performers and the songs that made them famous, doesn't he?

The producer and his wife, Shirley, found themselves right at home in Canonsburg five years ago when they presented "Dream Along With Me," a revue that honored singer Perry Como, and now they're back with "Canonsburg Legends," in a way a continuation of the earlier show. The new one pays tribute to Como, Bobby Vinton (also a Canonsburg native) and '50s guy group The Four Coins (ditto).

In other words, one good legend deserves another ... and another.

David Alden, Roger Dimit, Tim Grantz, Edward J. Matelan and Kaitlin Marie Descutner form the crooning cast of "Canonsburg Legends," which is scheduled to run Aug. 2-10 at the Perry Como Theatre. Call 724-746-1178 for reservations.

Too 'Hot' blues

If you aren't quite ready to go "from alpha to omega, from A to Z" for Cole Porter but are anxious to see "Red, Hot and Cole" at the Theatre Factory in Trafford, make sure before you make the journey beyond Monroeville that the theater's air conditioning system is operating correctly. It wasn't one night last weekend, so I escaped during intermission. I like Cole Porter, too, but not enough to melt in a 99-degree oven for him.

Here's the concept of this biography/revue, directed by Scott Calhoon and choreographed by Scott Sambuco: Porter's life told through musical numbers and gossip at a party attended by Ethel Merman, George Kaufman, Dorothy Parker, Noel Coward, Clifton Webb, Moss Hart and Monty Woolley.

The show kicks off with Roseann Rosnick as hostess Elsa Maxwell singing "I'm Throwing a Ball Tonight," and though I missed half the program, I did hear decent renditions of "Anything Goes," "I'm in Love Again," "Begin the Beguine" and, appropriately, "In the Still of the Night." Call 412-374-9200 for reservations.

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