As thermometers flirt with sub-zero temperatures and New Yorkers turn up their collars against the frigid January wind, The Irish Repertory Theatre is warming hearts with the first New York revival of Ernest in Love, the musical based on Oscar Wilde’s evergreen (and oft-revived) satire of Victorian societal mores, The Importance of Being Earnest.

Originally opening Off-Broadway in 1960, Ernest in Love was clearly influenced by My Fair Lady, which was still delighting audiences four years into its Broadway run. After all, if Shavian wit could be transformed into a history-making musical, why not Wildean wordplay? To that end, composer Lee Pockriss (still best known for the pop songs “Catch a Falling Star,” “Johnny Angel” and the immortal “Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini” ) and librettist/lyricist Anne Croswell plundered Wilde’s choice dialogue and indelible characters, and embroidered the still-pretty-much-intact play with a dozen or so original songs.

Though critics lavished praise on the original production (which bowed at the Gramercy Arts Theatre on 27th and 3rd, now the home of Repartario Español), audiences remained lukewarm, and the musical eked out 104 performances. (Interestingly, the original production of the legendary musical The Fantasticks opened the night before Ernest).

Nearly fifty years later, The Irish Repertory Theatre is charming audiences with this pocket-sized bauble of a musical. From the first harp glissando in the real, honest-to-God, old-school overture (newly arranged for violin, cello, piano, harp and vocal ensemble by music director par excellence Mark Hartman), you know you’re in good hands.

Oscar Wilde’s plot (not to mention huge chunks of dialogue) remain intact: country resident Jack Worthing pretends that tending to his fictitious brother Ernest requires his frequent visits to the city, where he woos Gwendolyn Fairfax (much to the consternation of her mother, Lady Bracknell) as Ernest. Likewise, Worthing’s dandified friend Algernon invokes a fictitious country-dwelling identity whenever he wants to avoid unpleasant London social situations. Algernon soon visits his friend’s country home unannounced to woo Worthing’s ward (using the name of Ernest), as Jack arrives there (shortly followed by Gwendolyn) to mourn Ernest’s death. Comic mayhem, as they say, ensues.

As Jack, Noah Racey (best-known for his song-and-dance turns in Never Gonna Dance and Curtain, as well as the “Broadway by the Year” series at Town Hall) gets ample opportunity to display his prodigious dance skills, notably in the winsome opening number, “How Do You Find the Words.” His love duet with Gwendolyn (a delightfully brittle Annika Boras), “Perfection,” makes one wonder how in the world this song has not become a standard. As Lady Bracknell, Beth Fowler (Tony nominee for The Boy from Oz, and a maternal teapot in Beauty and the Beast) is all huff-and-puff imperiousness while barking out Wilde’s delectable bon mots as if she were born to play the role.

Director Charlotte Moore and choreographer Barry McNabb, who previously collaborated on the Irish Rep’s revivals of Take Me Along and the 2004 production of Finian’s Rainbow, keep the proceedings gliding along effortlessly with one lovely song following another clever dance, buffered by Wilde’s rapier wit.

But the question remains: do Oscar Wilde’s immortal characters really need to sing and dance? Probably not, but when the result is as charming as The Irish Rep’s Ernest in Love, complaints are superfluous.

Performances of Ernest in Love run now through January 31 at The Irish Repertory Theatre (132 West 22nd Street, between 6th and 7th Avenues): Wednesdays – Saturdays at 8pm; plus 3pm matinees on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays. Tickets are $65 and $55, and are available by calling 212-727-2737 or by visiting www.irishrep.org.