STAGE REVIEW : ‘Oil’ Strikes Chords, but Plot Runs Dry

Part way through the first half of “Oil City Symphony” at the Pasadena Playhouse, the audience is invited to participate in a collective rendition of the “Hokey Pokey.” Remember the “Hokey Pokey”?

Hokey is what it is. And hokey is what you have to love to enjoy “Oil City Symphony.” In the tradition of “Forever Plaid” but without the sophistication, “Oil City” is a straight shot of nostalgia about small-town school reunions and those friends you will be so relieved you left behind.

Call them Mark (Mark Hardwick), Debbie (Klea Blackhurst), Mike (Mike Craver) and Mary (Emily Mikesell), the polyester-clad kings and queens of inept.

There they are, frozen smiles and tacky formal attire in place, playing their aging little hearts out at this Oil City High reunion “recital”: Nebbishy Mark on piano and accordion; Mary, the sly one, on violin, flute and sax; nervous Mike on synthesizer, and attack-Debbie, in froufrou pink formal, on those killer drrrrummms.

There’s fine musicianship behind Gary L. Wissman’s plastic palms, the terminal squareness and the shtick. “Oil City” knows how to strut its stuff, from its quartet of players “Coaxing the Ivories” to its a cappella singing, much of it in admirable barbershop quartet style. If only the show were going somewhere.

Created in 1987 by the people who brought us “Pump Boys and Dinettes,” this “recital” lists no director or writer--and it shows. It uses the same kind of bumbling filler between songs, start to finish, and, after we’ve been introduced to each instrument and each player and told for the fifth time in the glassy-eyed monotone of stage fright how much fun everyone’s having, the joke starts to pall.

Momentum, maestro, please, because the musical numbers have it. What they need is a better framework. The rectitude of the delivery of such tongue-in-cheek items as “Count Your Blessings,” “Ohio Afternoons” (listen to those trucks roll down the freeways) or “Bus Ride” (a field trip to Knott’s Berry Farm) makes them twice as funny. And you can’t quibble with such well-developed descendants of Spike Jones as “Beaver Ball at the Bug Club” or that hokey--the H-word again--”Beehive Polka.”

No, siree. There’s enough variety in the musical selections, some amusingly composed and written by Hardwick, Craver and original cast member Debra Monk, and others, like the instrumental “Dizzy Fingers” (Hardwick and Craver at respective keyboards) or the group’s indelible version of “In the Sweet By and By,” that simply warrant going the extra mile to make the show sounder. The real fun begins when we get to the encores, which is a little too late.

But it’s not too late to stiffen “Oil City’s” dramatic spine, especially since it has so much going for it on other fronts. More amazing is to think it survived five years without anyone coming to the rescue.

Hardwick and Craver are by now delightfully adept at the wimpiness of their roles--the former as a proper mama’s boy who’s never strayed far from home; the latter as a tight-lipped refugee from a brief brush with hippiedom who knows more than he tells.

All smiles and pink taffeta, Blackhurst as Debbie is a kick on those drums. And her flailing arms do a fair amount of punching too. (You wouldn’t want to entrust that woman with a rolling pin.)

As for Mikesell as deadpan Mary, coaxing the violin is a lot easier for her than cracking a smile. Dressed in a print suit that she surely made herself, this fan of the roller derby and champion Hokey Poker is handy with a whistle, gets by on the flute, but is no Bill Clinton when it comes to the sexy sax.

These are characters neatly etched, united by earnestness, by unquestioned devotion to their flag and their music teacher, and by a distinct lack of grace or physical coordination. They rank up there somewhere with Mom and apple pie. Cute is the word for them. Too cute is the word for the show.

* “Oil City Symphony,” Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Ave., Pasadena. Tuesdays-Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 5 and 9 p.m.; Sundays, 2 and 7 p.m. Ends Dec. 20. $31.50; (818) 356-PLAY, (213) 480-3232. Running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes. Klea Blackhurst: Debbie

Mike Craver: Mike

Mark Hardwick: Mark

Emily Mikesell: Mary

A Pasadena Playhouse presentation in association with Theatre Corp. of America. Music Mark Hardwick, Debra Monk. Lyrics Mike Craver. Set Gary L. Wissman. Lights Paulie Jenkins. Sound Jon Gottlieb. Stage manager Cheri Catherine Cary.