MONMOUTH – “Tom Jones” serves up one delectable treat after another in this new play’s world premiere presentation at the Theater at Monmouth.

It’s a ribald and racy look at life in England not many years before the American Revolution when both high-born and low-born exercised some extreme moral flexibility.

The episodic plot follows the misadventures of Tom, a young man who comes to the country estate of upstanding Squire Allworthy as an illegitimate foundling. Well-meaning but often gullible, Tom strives to please the squire, but fate and cunning rivals intervene.

Henry Fielding mined a rich vein of comic characterization in his mid-1700s masterpiece that led to the modern novel format. This new adaptation by David Greenham, producing director at TAM, mounts these gems in a showcase for the theater’s wonderful pool of talent.

Delightful performances are turned in by several veterans of multiple seasons on the stage at Monmouth’s unique Cumston Hall. Every role of the large cast reflects Greenham’s vision for the piece.

Casting is excellent, costuming is lavishly authentic, and the actors revel in the opportunities for over-the-top delivery.

Dennis Price, as Henry Fielding himself, leads the audience through Tom’s escapades. Much like the stage manager role in Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town,” Fielding is ever present to help us know just what to think about his world’s contradictions in social conduct. Price handles the task with great wit and charm.

Of all the characters encountered by Tom, there is none more capably developed than Blifil, a wickedly hypocritical weasel who vies for Tom’s inheritance. Aaron B. Coleman makes his TAM debut this season, and audiences will be watching for more of his work.

Patrick Pope, also new to the TAM stage, gives a memorable performance as Partridge. Wrongly identified as the father of the infant Tom, Partridge later finds himself accompanying the young man on his journeys.

In the role of Tom is Mike Anthony, third season at TAM. He plays the role with an air of almost constant bemusement as he pursues the heart of Sophia and finds himself pursued by almost every female he encounters. There’s a lot of dialogue in “Tom Jones,” but Anthony gets a chance to liven things up a couple of times in some rousing action with knife and fist.

Mark S. Cartier (11 seasons at TAM) ably plays the admirable Squire Allworthy, and Marcy Amell, in her first TAM season, portrays Tom’s beloved Sophia Western, the proper but plucky daughter of neighboring Squire Western.

R. Chris Reeder, another newcomer to TAM this season, gives a rollicking bombastic performance in the role of Squire Western.

Maureen Tannian Butler (first season) is very good as Mrs. Western, especially in a conversation with Sophia that takes her from the heights of delight to the depths of despair.

Janis Stevens has been a TAM favorite for eight years. She brings her fine talent to the role of Lady Bellaston, a woman of the world in London society who has her own veiled interests in helping Sophia.

Among many others who decorate this production are Will Harrell as the foppish Lord Fellamar. Duston Tucker (five seasons at TAM) is excellent as Thomas Square, a man of high morals who’s hilariously exposed in the company of a young lady.

“Tom Jones” contains a few fleeting scenes of nudity. There’s also a long scene at a bawdy country inn where patrons play out a shadowy slow-motion tableaux of debauchery in the background as the play unfolds at the front of the stage. This episode’s staging is a distraction in the play’s otherwise good-humored nature.

In many ways, Greenham’s adaptation seems like too much of a good thing. Fielding’s book in even more episodic than this version, but Greenham has chosen the scenes he uses wisely.

TAM cast members are also seen in the season’s rotating schedule of “My Three Angels,” “Charlotte’s Web,” Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “Measure for Measure,” and “The Oldest Story Ever Told.” Janet Stevens presents her final appearance in the one-woman show “Vivien” (the life of actress Vivien Leigh) on Aug. 7.

“Tom Jones” opened July 27. Remaining performances of the new play are on Aug. 2, 9, 11, 15-16, 18, 21 and 24.

For information about times and tickets, call the TAM box office at 933-9999 or log on to www.theateratmonmouth.org.