“Church Basement Ladies,” the latest offering through May 14 in The Pines Dinner Theatre’s eighth season, is a musical-comedy gem, filled with hand-clapping songs, witty lyrics and crazy antics.

The musical, written by Jim Stowell and Jessica Zuehlk, was inspired by the best-selling book “Growing Up Lutheran,” a humorous remembrance by Janet Letnes and Suzann Nelson of being Lutheran in the Midwest during the 1950s.

The storyline in the show, co-produced by Oliver Blatt and Stacey Yoder, takes place over the course of a year in the church basement where four devout women work together more or less congenially to prepare food for a variety of parish functions, while also dealing with the distractions of their newly-married pastor.

Dan Baker is perfect as Pastor Gunderson, providing his character with just the right mix of piety and confusion. During the April 1 performance, seen for this review, Baker gave a stirring rendition of “Song for Willy,” a musical remembrance of the church’s long-time handy man whose funeral the pastor was about to officiate at upstairs.

The women are not only the “four pillars of the church,” as they refer to themselves, but also are four very strong pillars of the play. Each holds up her own part while complementing the rest of the cast.

Lori Ann is hysterical as Mavis, whose attempts at dealing with her hot flash “episodes” generated peals of laughter for a good part of Act One. When she lamented, “I could swear I’m in the Bahamas,” there were more than a few members of the audience whose reactions showed that they obviously could relate.

The mother and daughter team of Natasha Ricketts (Karin) and Karisa Hope Fulmer (Signe) contribute their own fitting character dimensions as they struggle with their relationship, which was being tested first by Signe’s dating a Catholic, and ultimately by the pressures of Signe’s upcoming marriage.

Rounding out the cast is Stacy Bechtel as Vivian, the archetypal church matron who is in charge of the kitchen, and makes sure everyone knows it. Vivian is as complex as she is blustery, judgmental and self-righteous. Bechtel is amazing at capturing all the foibles, while staying humorous. She bemoans the parishioner’s son, who married a Catholic, and in her words, “signed their children over to the Pope. Then they went to a wild dance at the VFW Hall.”

The challenge is to evolve Vivian’s character from opinionated self-assurance, through frustration with how fast everything is changing, to self-realization. Bechtel handles the transformations deftly, and at the end sings the touching song, “For Good,” to Signe, who is getting married in a few hours and having doubts.

Bechtel is also music director, which is a bit misleading because she not only directs the music, she plays all the instruments from piano to bongo drums, to cymbals, and much more. She recorded each instrument on a separate track and then mixed them together to provide the orchestration.

The set design by Blatt has everything a kitchen needs and then some. Its clean white table and appliances are visually attractive without being distracting. The set is versatile enough for cooking, meeting, talking, singing or dancing.

Tickets: Pines Dinner Theatre Box Office, 448 N. 17th St., Allentown; 610-433-2333