THEATER REVIEW: ‘DAMES AT SEA’ : Choppy Water : A parody of 1930s movie musicals is uneven in places but it shows some promise as well.

Two Santa Barbara-based producers, operating under the name Starlight Entertainment, are moving their base of operations to Ventura County. If their first production in the area, “Dames at Sea,” is any indication, they’ve seriously underestimated the average level of local theater.

A parody of ‘30s movie musicals, “Dames” is not without merit. The show is intentionally threadbare, written to accommodate a minimum cast of four men and three women, all of whom sing and dance. Authors George Haimsch and Robin Miller have arranged things so that additional singers and dancers can participate.

What the authors probably didn’t have in mind is for one of the actors to play two different roles, a decision that leads to members of the audience wondering if one character is supposed to be the other’s long-lost twin brother.

Such a plot development wouldn’t be too far out of range for “Dames,” a show that was voted Best Musical of the Year (1968) by the New York Outer Circle Critics. The story revolves around opening night at a Broadway theater that is soon to be leveled and turned into a skating rink. Ruby, a young, naive, aspiring singer-dancer, just off the bus, lands a part in the show. Dick, a sailor who’s also a composer and who has picked up the suitcase the ingenue inadvertently left at the depot, turns out to be from the same small town she is from.

Will the show go on? Will boy get girl? Will other unlikely coincidences ensure a happy ending? If you have any doubts about the answer to any of these questions, you’d better head for the Ojai Arts Center immediately--this will obviously be your first musical.

Chris Korten is winning as Dick the sailor (a part he played in Santa Barbara several years ago), and Daniel Vivanco is capable enough as Lucky, his sidekick--think Donald O’Connor, maybe.

Sandra Muir plays Mona Kent--the star of “Dames at Sea,” the play-within-a-play, as an amalgam of Mae West, Miss Piggy and, especially, Bette Midler. Juliann Lyon comes close to stealing the show as wisecracking chorine Joan, the Ann Sothern prototype. Like most of the rest of the cast and production staff, all are from the Santa Barbara area.

Elaine Arnette sings nicely but isn’t particularly convincing as the small-town girl, Ruby. For the purposes of this production, she and Dick are from Ojai, a touch that’s supposed to add an extra chuckle. Since they’re supposed to be from the sticks, director and co-producer Tom Zeiher could have come up with something funnier--Meiners Oaks, for instance. And Charles Triane shares the otherwise unrelated roles of producer Hennessey and a Navy captain.

Austria Joy Godkin’s character, Ginger, fades into the scenery--the writers’ fault, probably, not the actress’s.

The sets and costumes, by Korten and Lyon respectively, show some imagination--except for one sequence, in which the chorus girls are supposed to be wearing raincoats. Instead, they’re clad in nylon jackets imprinted with Ventura County Fire Department . That may be intended as a joke, like “Ojai.” But since the play takes place in Manhattan, the joke makes no sense at all.

It’s possible, given the nature of “Dames at Sea,” that the dancers are supposed to lumber somewhat. If so, Cheryl Sington’s choreography and the dancing triumph. But much of the opening night’s pacing--with actors pausing for laughter that only came occasionally--says otherwise. Both pacing and coordination may improve with experience, of course.

Producers Barbara and Tom Zeiher are to be given credit for using live musicians--pianist Marjorie Hutton, bassist Abbie Beauchamp and percussionist Emmanual (Bucket) Baker--for the production numbers, though the show’s overture is prerecorded. The intermission music, consisting of authentic period hits, is a delight.

The Ojai Arts Center Theater is a swell place to see shows, air-conditioned and with plenty of parking outside and an art gallery to stroll through before the show and during intermission. Not without charm, “Dames at Sea” is a semi-promising launch for a new local company.

* WHERE AND WHEN: “Dames at Sea” plays Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday afternoons at 2:30, through Aug. 11. Tickets are $14 for evening performances; $11 for the matinees. There’s a $1-per-ticket discount for groups of 15 or more. The Ojai Arts Center Theater is located at 113 S. Montgomery St. in Ojai. For reservations or other information, call 964-3688 or the box office, 646-0117.