Rachael Warren plays a nightclub singer and Stephen Thorne is a soldier in Paris by Night, a musical with book and lyrics by Trinity Rep artistic director Curt Columbus.

Mark Turek

If you like your love stories sweet and simple, then you’ll probably enjoy Paris by Night, Curt Columbus’ homage to the old-fashioned musical that opened this week at Trinity Rep.

For this is the familiar tale of the search for lasting love amid emotional hurts and doubts. It’s about two couples, one gay, the other straight, in romantic 1960s Paris, and how they come to find one another.

But this is nothing we haven’t seen before, except perhaps for that fact that the leads in the story are gay. And Columbus, Trinity’s artistic director, does little to give the material a fresh spin.

It’s your basic boy-meets-girl story, or in this case, boy-meets-boy.

So, those in the mood for a love story that’s a little less obvious, a little more off-beat are likely to find this show clichéd, and at times a little sappy.

In some ways, it’s the lesser characters who grab our attention, people like Stephen Berenson’s Harry, the aged bon vivant who has the hots for Joe Wilson Jr.’s Sam, who is supposed to be the focus of the show, but is more a theatrical vacuum than an irresistible presence.

And Rachael Warren as the lovely nightclub singer Marie is fabulous. She was in great voice for Wednesday’s opening night and gave a vibrant portrayal of someone we’re really interested in.

Although for the life of me, I can’t understand what she sees in Mauro Hantman’s loutish Frank, the American soldier who treats her like dirt. Marie has a budding career in the clubs of Paris, but can’t wait to move to the woods of North Carolina with her dim-witted, bigoted boyfriend when he gets out of the service.

Excuse me, but this is 1960s Paris. Women, especially talented knockouts like Marie, have got to be more enlightened than that. Columbus’ characters seem to be living in small town America in the inhibited 1950s.

But while Harry is hitting the Parisian night spots, Sam, a black tattoo artist who left San Francisco for more accepting environs, seems afraid of his own shadow. He has been wounded by love once before, and now is unwilling to get involved with anyone.

But all that changes with the arrival of Buck, a GI friend of Frank, Marie’s lover. Buck wanders into Sam’s tattoo shop while on leave, and the two strike up a friendship.

Making it with another guy seems the furthest thing from Buck’s mind when we meet him. He’s a polite, self-effacing hunk from Appalachia with a troubled family history who seems to be a novice when it comes to romance. He just wants Sam to show him around the city.

But it is not long before a bare-chested Buck and Sam are kissing. When they are interrupted by Buck’s Army buddies, Buck says goodbye and disappears into the night.

This is not a pairing we care a lot about, though. Buck is a good-hearted lug, not nearly so beguiling as Harry, who parties away his nights to hide his insecurities and fears. But there is no question that at some point Sam will get over the enormous hurt that has kept him from living his life and get together with Buck.

Columbus started working on Paris by Night more than a decade ago when a former student suggested he write a gay musical. After a disastrous reading, he has been working hard with composers André Pluess and Amy Warren to whip the piece into shape.

What they came up with is more a jazzy chamber musical than a Broadway-style show, where booming operatic voices are required. And that’s a good thing, since, besides Warren, Trinity doesn’t have a lot of great singers.

The songs, backed up by piano, bass and drums, are slick enough, but not the sort of tunes that cause you to stand up and cheer. Among the catchier numbers is Stephen Thorne’s upbeat “American Man,” in which he sings about the things he looks for in a woman. Thorne plays another soldier who also has feelings for Marie. The final ballad, “Making Something Last,” sung by Buck and Sam, had an appealing ease to it.

But Rachael Warren’s nightclub offering was the musical high point of the show.

Wilson did a nice job with what he had to work with as Sam, and, stereotyped as he was, Hantman was the perfect ugly American, crude and abrasive.

New York import James Royce Edwards made a sincere, but somewhat empty-headed Buck.

Designer Eugene Lee has produced a fairly elaborate double-decker set that serves as a nightclub manned by Janice Duclos’ feisty Henriette, Sam’s tattoo parlor and the brothel where the GIs hang out. There’s even a scene in which the space is transformed into a boxing ring where Buck does battle with a local brute. That’s when Sam learns that after a year’s absence Buck is back in town, and musters the courage to come watch him fight.

Again, those who don’t mind covering familiar theatrical ground will probably find this show, directed by Birgitta Victorson, entertaining.

And for those who are not big on guy-on-guy relations, not to worry. This is not a racy show. There’s very little face-to-face contact, and nothing like simulated sex or hard-core leather-bar action.

No, it’s more like Columbus wanted to bring back the innocent times depicted in musicals of yore, just with a gay spin. But that also makes this show a little dated, a little obvious.

Paris by Night runs through June 1 at Trinity Rep, 201 Washington St., Providence. Tickets are $20-$60. Call (401) 351-4242 or log on to www.trinityrep.com.

cgray@projo.com