WILLIAM INGE'S ''Picnic,'' which had its Broadway premiere in 1953, is being given a revival on Showtime and, despite some misguided tinkering, the play comes through beautifully. The pay-cable presentation, first shown on Monday, will be repeated several times, the first being Saturday afternoon at 3.
This production, directed by Marshall W. Mason of New York's Circle Repertory Company, had a stage run earlier this year at the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles, where Robert Fryer was the producer for the Center Theater Group. For television, the executive producers are Roger Berlind and Gregory Harrison (Gonzo in television's ''Trapper John, M.D.'') on behalf of Mr. Harrison's Catalina Production Group. No one should be terribly surprised, therefore, to discover that Mr. Harrison is also playing the central role of Hal Carter, the rough-hewn drifter.
For this ''Picnic,'' Mr. Mason has gone back not only to the Broadway play and earlier versions written by Mr. Inge but also to the considerably different adaptation that was used in the movie starring William Holden and Kim Novak. In addition, he makes minor cuts in an effort to create a more contemporary tone, even though the scene is still set in a small Kansas town in the early 50's.
One of the more noticeable adjustments involves the character of Rosemary the teacher, here played by Michael Learned. Rosemary is now more independent and her girlfriends, also unmarried teachers, are sillier, played broadly for laughs. But there is a loss. She may be more ''acceptable'' in today's turns, but Ms. Learned is denied a chance to create the kind of affecting pathos that worked so memorably for Eileen Heckart on stage and Rosalind Russell on film.
And there are other weak spots. Despite, for instance, the fact that he spends a good part of his professional career with his shirt off (see next week's satiric ''Fresno'' mini-series on CBS), Mr. Harrison does not have the muscle-rippling physique required for Hal, whose sheer bulk keeps most of the women buzzing. Fortunately, Mr. Harrison still gives a sensitive performance as the stud who fears he is little more than a bum. I must confess to being spoiled as far as the casting is concerned. One of the most vivid memories from my early theatergoing days was the original ''Picnic,'' directed by Joshua Logan and acted just about to perfection by a cast that included Ralph Meeker, Janice Rule, Kim Stanley, Ms. Heckart and, in the smaller role of Hal's wealthy college-days buddy, a virtual unknown named Paul Newman. It was, as they say, magic time.
The play itself is, admittedly, small and relatively unassuming. As Hal's presence begins to be felt, in one way or another, in the lives of several women, Mr. Inge explores the simmering terrain of sexual repressions in mid-America during an age that now seems remote and incurably innocent.
Madge (Jennifer Jason-Leigh), the beautiful daughter, waits to be discovered by someone other than the nice but dull Alan (Timothy Shelton). Millie (Dana Hill), her precocious tomboy sister, would give anything to be as alluring as Madge. Their mother, Flo (Rue McClanahan), suddenly feels her own life sliding by and hopes that Madge won't end up like her, marrying a doomed charmer. And Rosemary, realizing that she will never have a Hal in her life, fiercely pursues the safe compromise of ''square'' Howard (Dick Van Patten), willing even to fall to her knees and beg for marriage.
This production is at its best when being most straightforward, when approaching the play's 50's sensibilities without patronizing. Ms. McClanahan and Conchata Ferrell as Helen Potts, the next-door neighbor, are especially successful on this score. And the famous ''dance scene,'' in which Hal's partnering of Madge turns decidedly steamy, is captured brilliantly as ''Moonglow'' plays insinuatingly in the background. As in most of Mr. Inge's work, the insights in ''Picnic'' are gentle, tender and loving. There would still seem to be room for such qualities on the contemporary scene.
Photo of Gregory Harrison and Jennifer Jason Leigh in ''Picnic''
