THEATER REVIEW ‘PHANTOM OF THE MELODRAMA’ : Stage Spoof : Moorpark group’s production borrows pages from songbooks of Andrew Lloyd Webber, Irving Berlin and Dave Frishberg.

When a number of Moorpark Melodrama audience regulars suggested that the group should come up with something called “Phantom of the Melodrama,” co-producer Linda Bredemann commissioned frequent contributor Tim Kelly to come up with just such a script.

“Phantom of the Melodrama,” now playing, is in most ways typical of the company’s productions: kiddingly overacted kicks in the pants of one genre or another, liberally larded with music--some original, some borrowed.

This “Phantom” raids the Andrew Lloyd Webber songbook--yes, the Phantom (Damian Gravino) does sing “Music of the Night.”

It also borrows from Irving Berlin, “Damn Yankees,” and hip contemporary songwriter Dave Frishberg, whose satirical “My Attorney, Bernie” here becomes a love song.

In the story, the old Moorpark Opera House is purchased by youngish producer Linda Broadway (har, har), who intends to convert the venerable facility to a vaudeville theater.

Because, as one character points out, “the people of Moorpark don’t know a baritone from a barracuda.”

Broadway brings in a noted, if somewhat past her prime, diva (played by Alison Dayne Frankel), whose status is being threatened by one of the supporting cast, Christine Swansong (Kimberley L. Decker).

Amid all of this lurks the Phantom and, before long, the bodies begin stacking up like the last act of “Sweeney Todd.”

Typically, some gags hit and some fail, but they never stop coming at you.

Along with the obvious stuff, there are unexpected gems like the Busby Berkeley tribute, “By a Waterfall,” with dancers Laura Walker, Mary Jo Sullivan, Adreanna Rivoli and Karen Sepich.

Choreographed by the show’s director, Joy Enright, the quartet hilariously stands in for the noted film choreographer’s entire, seemingly-endless chorus line from 1933’s “Footlight Parade.”

Standout performances, in addition to those noted, include Melodrama stalwart David C. Barry Jr. as music critic (boo!) Silky Acidtongue; Mark A. Totorici as theater rat catcher Humphrey Rainwater; Jackie Hendrickson as cleanup woman Guppy Gopher, and Charwick Lortie as soldier-on-leave Fairleigh Good (hooray!), love interest of Christine Swansong.

Following the show is a half-hour salute to the ‘30s, wherein the cast dresses up in formal attire and performs numbers including Fats Waller’s “This Joint Is Jumpin’,” a torchy version of Eddie Cantor’s 1929 “Makin’ Whoopee,” and Helen Kane’s “I Want to Be Bad” from the same year.

* WHERE AND WHEN

“Phantom of the Melodrama” continues Thursdays through Sundays until July 27 at the Magnificent Moorpark Melodrama & Vaudeville Co., 45 E. High St., Moorpark. Curtain is 7 p.m. Thursdays and Sundays and 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, with 3 p.m. matinees Saturdays. Tickets are $10 for regular admission, and $7.50 for seniors and children under 12 at the Thursday, Saturday matinee and Sunday shows only. For reservations or information, call 529-1212 between noon and 5 p.m. daily.