`SHERLOCK' MAY BE A LITTLE TOO ELEMENTARY.

Byline: Evan Henerson Theater Critic

Sherlock, you jest! Quite frequently, in fact.

Also, you trot the globe, wear ridiculous disguises, blather on about arcane wisdom that to you is ``elementary'' and give poor faithful Dr. Watson no end of grief whenever the poor dog is unable to keep up. Which is often.

In short, you do everything readers of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (as well as in more stage and screen adaptations than one man could tabulate) have come to expect of you. Relentlessly, you entertain.

What you do not do, my dear Holmes, in this, your purported ``final adventure,'' is enliven, much less give us a compelling reason to hope for your return.

Titled ``Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure,'' the new yet old Holmes tale is Steven Dietz's adaptation of an 1899 play by Conan Doyle and William Gillette. The production at the Pasadena Playhouse (a world premiere co-production with the Arizona Theatre Company) is smoothly staged, capably acted, and technically and visually handsome.

It's also -- despite Dietz's best effort to put a spanking new saddle on an old war horse -- utterly perfunctory. Does the stage really need another Sherlocking?

Apparently, it does. I learn, via the Playhouse's press notes, that five major regional theaters in the Midwest have slated productions of ``The Final Adventure'' during the upcoming season. Well, with this kind of name recognition to offer subscribers, wouldn't you?

In this tale, told in flashback by the recently married Dr. Watson (played by Victor Talmadge), Holmes (Mark Capri) falls in love, squares off with the satanic Professor Moriarty and ultimately meets his maker. Along the way, there's a King of Bohemia to aid, a blackmailing plot to foil, cocaine to ingest (once) and criminals to bring to justice.

Quite a plateful, no? Yet the stakes, despite the gravitas of Talmadge's narration, never seem especially high. How can they, when the man propelling the action considers life one big game afoot?

This is not to slight Capri, who can upturn a nose and fire off a cutting barb with the best of them. So fiendishly good as a different man of mystery in the Falcon Theatre's ``Sleuth'' last year, Capri employs a deft mixture of arrogance and prissy dismissiveness whenever it's suggested that matters of the heart have overtaken him.

The parry and thrust between Capri and Libby West (as the slightly imperiled object of his affection) is smart, but not so spicy. You sense Holmes and Irene Adler would be better crime-solving partners than lovers.

Not to be outdone is Laurence Ballard, in full ``I am Mephistopheles'' gusto as Moriarty. You'd figure a man as calculating and ruthless as Moriarty might spend more time, say, methodically cutting a rose to smithereens (a nice first-entrance touch) than doing his own dirty work. But Ballard is so gleefully mean, such an arrogant match for Capri, that you miss the man when he's off stage.

Playing off a Holmes given to witty banter and put-downs, Talmadge makes a fitting straight man. He and Capri have established a nice sense of shared history between the two comrades in crime. (More sprightly -- and no less popular -- was Charles Marowitz's ``Sherlock's Last Case,'' which suggested that Holmes and Watson were actually attention-loving adversaries who were stuck with each other.)

``The Final Adventure'' opts for humor over dramatic urgency, meaning every secondary character gets a swanky costume (elegantly realized by David Mickelsen) and some scenery to chew. Director David Ira Goldstein undoubtedly knows he's trafficking in less than the freshest of goods, but, by thunder, he'll serve it up banquet style

anyway.

Snooty old Holmes may not deserve any better than this, but audiences certainly do.

Evan Henerson, [phone]

evan.henerson(at)dailynews.com

SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE FINAL ADVENTURE - Two and one half stars

Where: Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Ave., Pasadena.

When: 8 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 5 and 9 p.m. Saturday, 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday; through June 11.

Tickets: $38 to $60. [phone]

In a nutshell: The players are great. The stakes are zilch.

CAPTION(S):

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Photo:

Sherlock Holmes (Mark Capri, left) faces off with nemesis Professor Moriarty (Laurence Ballard) in what is billed as the detective's ``Final Adventure,'' at the Pasadena Playhouse.