Expert farceur and Ray Cooney veteran Paxton Whitehead is playing Richard Willey, a junior minister in Margaret Thatcher's government, in Out Of Order at NJ's Paper Mill Playhouse through Feb. 9.

Cooney's Olivier Award-winning comedy shows Willey trying to carouse with an attractive blonde (Kay Walbye), only to have his amorous intentions curtailed when they find a corpse in their hotel suite. When political crony George (Reno Roop) tries to dispose of the body, farcical calamities ensue. Rounding out the Paper Mill cast (which is the same as the recent Coconut Grove Playhouse cast) are Vince O'Brien, John Seidman, Timothy Wheeler, Delphi Harrington, Burt Edwards and Cristine McMurdo-Wallis.

Paxton Whitehead's New York credits include Cooney's Run For Your Wife, Stoppard's Artist Descending A Staircase and Shaffer's Lettice & Lovage, all on Broadway.

Previous Cooney plays at Paper Mill include Run For Your Wife, Two Into One and It Runs In The Family.

Out Of Order opened Jan. 1 at the Playhouse on Brookside Drive in Millburn. Dates for special performances are: Jan. 30-Feb. 2 (visually impaired); Feb. 2 (hearing impaired). For tickets ($31-$46) and information call (201) 376-4343. -- By David Lefkowitz