The show must go on – especially for one local theater that lost an actor two weeks before opening night.

A team of Valley Community Player actors was hard pressed last week in preparation for “Bell, Book and Candle,” which opens today.

“I’m proud of the cast and how they pulled together,” said director Vincent Orduna. “All of the actors had pretty impressive resumes.”

This is the VCP’s second production this season. Though it’s the theater’s holiday play, it’s not the most “Christmassy” of shows, Orduna said.

The play tells the story of witch Gillian Holroyd, played by Janna Giles, who casts a love spell on publisher Shepherd Henderson, played by Ben Andrews.

“I think she’s someone who has gotten really used to getting what she wants at the snap of her finger,” Giles said. “Everything is amusing to her and she just kind of plays with people.”

Holroyd’s decision was made partly to keep Henderson away from a rival and partly because she’s attracted to him.

“As things go on, she starts to realize she likes him,” Giles said.

However, witches cannot fall in love, and the spell leads to a number of problems.

“Shepherd Henderson is a publisher in New York in the 1950s,” said Andrews, whose recent acting has been in independent films. “He’s a straight-and-narrow, good American.”

The play opens with scenes that explain Holroyd’s secret community. Doors open on their own, lights turn on with a snap, and cats come and go.

“Because he (the playwright) was gay, a lot of people argue he was writing about his community,” Orduna said. “Poor Shep is so out of his element.”

It’s said that the TV show “Bewitched” was based on the character Holroyd, he said.

“It’s a comedy, but it’s not your traditional slapstick,” Orduna said. “The comedy comes out of the relationships.”