Zealot readers of this column already know the absolute high regard I have for Tacoma Little Theatre’s new Managing Artistic Director Scott Campbell. I have gushed about him so much that one would think I owe him money. I don’t, by the way. Campbell has that golden touch TLT needs to rebuild its talent and its subscriber base after years of missteps and lost opportunities.

If there is anyone out there left who thinks Campbell isn’t up to the task, Star Spangled Girl will make them instant converts.

But credit doesn’t just go to Campbell, who didn’t direct the show. That duty went to the comic genius otherwise known as Elliot Weiner. Campbell didn’t even appear in the show. Luke Amundson, Blake York and Gretchen Boyt did. Brilliance was found everywhere, even on preview night when there were a few tech glitches.

The show was solid overall, from lights on to curtain call.

Here’s why:

Weiner nailed the casting with York and Amundson playing the roles of two alternative, magazine writers who are out to expose the ills of the world as they see them during the Summer of Love in San Francisco, 1967. It was otherwise known as ground zero of the hippy movement, and these two Dartmouth graduates take their talents to the street with a radical mag that is filled more with ideals than news. This Neil Simon comedy then brings in a girl to make the story more interesting, as York’s character Norman falls in love with Sophie, an all-American, Olympic swimmer from Arkansas, played by Boyt, who moves into the apartment next door. It’s love at first sight — or smell, in this case — for Norman and his obsession turns everything upside down the way only Simon can write. What plays out is sort of an Of Mice and Men exchange with Sophie being the mouse in this comedy. And let’s face it, Boyt is not tough to look at so the obsession makes sense in its own comedic way. That in no way is meant to say — in a sexist way — that Boyt is just a pretty face on the stage, because she is a powerhouse of comedic timing as well. The rapid-fire banter around the stage was often like a machine gun of “funness” to experience.

The story plays out with quick timing and otherwise throw away lines bringing laughter from the audience.

So how does all of this roll back into the brilliance that is Campbell, you might ask. Well, it is his theater. He pulled the parts together and even retooled the stage to add a little something-something.

This is a show to watch and enjoy.

[Tacoma Little Theater, through Sept. 18, 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, $16-$24, 210 N. I St., Tacoma, 253.272.2281]