The Valley Community Players is kicking off its 45th season with the slapstick farce “Lend Me a Tenor.”

“It’s been so much fun,” said director Lee Paasch, who has been with Valley Community Players (VCP) about 20 years. “We laughed all the way through the rehearsals.”

The performance attracted the eight cast members from around the Seattle area.

“Having such talented and wonderful people in the show has made it a delight,” Paasch said.

The play, which won 8 Tony Awards nationally, opens tonight (Oct. 2) at the Carco Theater, next to the Renton Community Center.

VCP has four performances scheduled this season, ending in April.

“We’re one of the oldest community theaters in the area,” Paasch said.

The comedy tells the story of a world-famous tenor, Tito, played by Peter Herpst, who plans to sing the lead in Othello with the Cleveland Opera Company in the 1930s.

“He’s a little full of himself,” said Herpst, who will play the character for the fourth time. “He’s a fun character… I’d really like to meet him.”

Chaos ensues when Tito’s wife mistakes a fan hiding in his closet for a secret lover and leaves him.

The situation worsens when Tito accidentally takes too much tranquilizer, sending him into a deep sleep.

In a plot to save the show, the opera house manager sends his assistant, Max, played by James Wyatt, to fill in for Tito, disguising his identity with the once popular blackface.

“He’s a dreamer, and a singer, kind of a geek and a lot like me,” Wyatt said of Max. “It takes him a while to learn to stand up for himself.”

The scheme works out well, until Tito wakes up, also in blackface, and heads for the stage.

The result is a comedy full of adult humor, double entrances, plot twists and wild entrances and exits.

“We think the audience will really enjoy this,” Paasch said.