As Enter the Guardsman begins, The Playwright (Mark Jacoby) starts to seduce the audience with his tale of a play within a play. As his story about the romantic machinations of The Actor (Robert Cuccioli) and The Actress (Marla Schaffel) unfolds, several wonderful things soon become apparent. First, the piece reveals itself to be something far more artful and penetrating than an old-fashioned musical comedy (as enjoyable as that may be). Second, Robert Cuccioli is himself a revelation, turning in an extravagantly self-mocking performance that makes good-natured fun of his Jekyll & Hyde persona. And third, Enter the Guardsman is the most accomplished new book musical to arrive on or Off-Broad[...]