'Escape to Margaritaville' has the Buffett-brand attitude but takes too much latitude

"Work is a dirty word out here," says the charming, guitar-strumming, Jimmy Buffett-esque central figure of the new musical "Escape to Margaritaville," a "Mamma Mia!" for Parrotheads. This seductive but commitment-phobic dude is trying to instill some chill into an uptight environmental scientist who just arrived in the islands to collect mineral-rich soil, but weirdly finds herself in a bar where a flaming volcano means a frozen concoction of rum, brandy and pineapple juice. "If you say it again," he admonishes the woman, "we'll have to wash your mouth out with tequila."

This set-up by the writers Greg Garcia and Mike O'Malley rouses both tourists and islanders into a refrain: "Work! Work! Work!"

If you find one of those syllables also escaping from your