The doors slam with regularity, as they should, in John Rando's revival of Georges Feydeau's classic farce A Flea In Her Ear, now at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, but the laughs come far more intermittently. With a little more time, the star-studded cast may soon master the clockwork precision needed for this genre -- and the doors on Alexander Dodge's clever sets may actually stay shut. But lack of time aside, David Ives' excessively jokey translation and Rando's only intermittently inspired direction are the major reasons this three-act, nearly three-hour comedy too often drags.

The set up -- and payoff -- are practically the blueprint for farce. Raymonde Chandebise (Kathryn Meisle) [...]