A well-received, but forgotten 25 year old comedy movie turned into a not so well-received theater musical that flopped in its New York debut is now being resuscitated by The Bailiwick Theatre. My Favorite Year is not only being given in a new life in this local production, but also being reworked. The music and lyrics team of Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens are revisiting their musical, which they originally created after their initial success of Once on This Island, and before moving on to Ragtime and Seussical (another of their big production misses that has gone on the greater success in smaller, revised local productions around the country). So, a reimagining of My Favorite Year seems especially promising. Staying close to the original film's story, My Favorite Year takes us back to 1954, where Benjy Stone, an aspiring writer is trying to make his mark behind the scenes on TV's King Kaiser Comedy Cavalcade. This week's guest star? Alan Swann (Peter O'Toole in the film), a fading Errol Flynn-like matinee idol, whose fondness for booze and broads has everyone doubting whether he will be able to perform. It's Benjy, though, who has faith not in Swann, and becomes his watchdog, making sure he stays on the straight and narrow. At the same time, Swann steps into the role of Benjy's absent dad, and helps him find his sel-confidence, ensuring him a deserved place at the writers table and in the arms of his producer sweetheart, K.C. Michael Maher, a familiar face in local productions of musicals is the fresh faced Benjy, and Megan long is the no-nonsense K.C. The older, more worldly counterparts are TV star King (a blustery Alan Brady-like King), Kate Garassino (the Rose Marie-like writer Alice), and Alan Swann, an appropriately suave Kevin D. Mayes. In fact, while everyone in the show seems to understand that most of the action is to be played fast and loose, and to be just plain fun, it is Mayes, as the drunk, who seems most in control. He may not be a towering presence, but he is believable as possessing all the traits that Benjy wants so badly to have. Others in the cast, however, are either in the wrong roles (Garassino and, as Benjy's mom, Susan Veronika Adler), or subject to spots in the script that feel like they've been cherrypicked from other, similar period antics. The aforementioned Dick Van Dyke Show comes to mind, as do the actual 1950 variety acts we see replayed on stage. Lucy and Desi did several sharper exchanges than King and Alice do in their "Professional Showbizness Comedy" number, and even Fred Astaire and Judy Garland, while not as caustic, were more endearing in their Easter Parade. Director David Zak and choreographer Annie Hackett impressively corral a large cast through all the musical numbers and many set and costume changes. The six man band and money spent on the production all help, but it is now up to the creators of the musical to continue to revise this play, full of heartfelt moments and promise, if they hope to extend its lifetime beyond the current production.