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A funky “Bodyguard” and a snippet of “II Most Wanted” then gave way to an ecstatic “Cuff It,” which Beyoncé performed on a small secondary stage near the rear of the venue.

Ninety minutes later the theater erupts in cheers and an effusive standing ovation for the ecstatic young thespians.

“If you had told me last year, or even at the beginning of the season, that we would finish in second — I would be ecstatic.”

Two of the participants lay hand-in-hand in ecstatic communion, while a third sat rigid and apart, his detachment crumbling into barely contained fury.

A boisterously vivacious opening number, “A Happy Ending Beginning,” sets the household into ecstatic motion early on in “Regency Girls,” which is having its world premiere at San Diego’s Old Globe.