There is a lot that cannot be said about Murder at the Howard Johnson's for fear of revealing too much about the plot twists and turns and thereby spoiling the fun for the audience.

What can be said, though, is that the comedy in three acts takes place on three different holidays in three different rooms of a Howard Johnson's hotel, and that it features a cast of three nicely matched actors who change costumes three times. The cast includes two men and one woman, so it's also safe to reveal that a love triangle is involved.

Good things come in threes, right? They absolutely do in this very light, very broad comedy written by Ron Clark and Sam Bobrick, and produced for the Cranbrook stage by Sally Masters.

Murder at the Howard Johnson's opens Friday, Jan. 29 at the Studio/Stage Door. Other performances are on Jan. 30, Feb. 3 to 6 and Feb. 10 to 13, with curtain time at 8 p.m. nightly.

The title of the play offers a broad hint that murder may be afoot at the Howard Johnson's. Well, maybe yes, maybe no. Audience members will just have to come out and find out for themselves.

Michael Grossman plays Paul Miller, a used car salesman who favours grey-on-grey suits. Kimberly Davidson plays Arlene Miller, Paul's wife, who is beautiful but perhaps not the brightest bulb in the chandelier. Peter Schalk plays Dr. Mitchell Lovell, who enjoys the tricky position of being both Paul's dentist and Arlene's lover.

Murder at the Howard Johnson's features a rather slight, quite silly script that nevertheless evolves into a highly entertaining evening thanks to the deft direction of Tanya Laing Gahr. She has assembled a trio of actors who couldn't be more evenly matched. They play off against one another beautifully, enjoying the physicality of their roles as much as their lines.

Davidson has a lot of fun playing dumb, Schalk is the perfect, preening poster boy of the disco era, and Grossman stages one of the best heart attack scenes I've ever seen.

I mentioned costume changes earlier for good reason; set in the late 1970s, with the third act taking place on the cusp of 1980, the costumes reflect the time period to great comedic effect. (Personal disclosure: my husband's closet features a ruffled tuxedo shirt very like the one in the play; had I known, Cranbrook Community Theatre could have come to my house when they were sourcing costumes.) I can already hear future audience members asking themselves what they were thinking when they wore similar items of apparel.

The play also takes great joy in poking fun at the me-first mood of the late Seventies and early Eighties. Self-actualization was all the rage, personal growth was on the agenda, and New Age self-help gurus were cashing in. It was definitely an era ripe for caricature.

Murder at the Howard Johnson's is an excellent choice for a mid-winter theatrical production. There is no need to search for hidden meanings or profound messages in this play, because there aren't any.

What you will find, though, is a light-hearted look at the foibles of love and lust and the sometimes fuzzy line dividing the two.

And you will leave the theatre, not with murder in your heart, but with laughter on your lips.