Florida Repertory Theatre audiences have been waiting a long time for a promised musical revue, originally billed as Too Marvelous for Words, about master lyricist Johnny Mercer; and they might initially have been disappointed when not finding it on this season's schedule. But no fear; those who keep up with Broadway doings will have realized that the 2004-05 opener, Dream, is in fact a Mercer show-one that ran a few years ago at the Royale Theatre in New York.

What happened? Florida Rep's producing artistic director, Robert Cacioppo, who'd been researching his own original revue for months, discovered that members of the Dream team-including star Margaret Whiting, who's president of the Johnny Mercer Foundation-wanted to try a new version of the show, one scaled down in cast and set size that could ultimately make its way through the regional theater world. And while Cacioppo admits to some regret over the loss of his own dream, he's excited about the opportunity to be the first theater in America to present this revised production, directed by Whiting's husband, Jack Wrangler.

"There I was, in Margaret Whiting's penthouse, near the piano where her father wrote Hooray for Hollywood and so many other great songs," muses Cacioppo about his visit to New York last spring to iron out details of the collaboration. "And she's a great star" who shares Cacioppo's love for Mercer's talent.

"I always had warped musical tastes for someone of my age; I listened to Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole when everyone else was listening to the Rolling Stones," admits Cacioppo. "I'm not sure Mercer has gotten the attention he deserves, because he's known primarily as a lyricist, not a composer. But there's a resurgence of interest in him lately. A new book about Mercer, Skylark, came out recently, and two more are due."

Blues in the Night, That Old Black Magic, One for My Baby, Moon River, Days of Wine and Roses-these are just a few of the tunes Mercer had a hand in over a four-decades-long career, which also included his own radio shows, vocalizing with Benny Goodman and Paul Whiteman's orchestras, and discovering such stars as Peggy Lee, Jo Stafford, and-you guessed it-Margaret Whiting. While Mercer's private life had its darker side-he struggled with alcoholism and had a long affair with Judy Garland-the overall mood of Dream will doubtless remain upbeat. How could it be otherwise with the man responsible for Accentuate the Positive?

Dream will be onstage at Florida Rep in Fort Myers Oct. 15-Nov. 7. For tickets, call 332-4488.