MUSIC REVIEWS : ‘Pirates of Penzance’: Loud, Hyperactive and Effective

One might expect frenetic and over-the-top performances, amplified nearly beyond ear-comfort, in any revival of the once-controversial production of Gilbert & Sullivan’s “Pirates of Penzance” first given on Broadway by the New York Shakespeare Festival 14 years ago.

And so it is, the hyperactive, often laugh-filled and consistently effective “Pirates” being performed (through Sunday) at Aviation Park Auditorium in Redondo Beach by Civic Light Opera of South Bay Cities.

Tinny sound and some monochromatic individual performances aside, it is also a cherishable souvenir of the 1980 reinterpretation, first produced in New York by Joseph Papp, later taken on a lengthy national tour (seen here at the Ahmanson Theatre), and finally committed to film.

The concept is simple and viable: Leaving Gilbert’s text largely unchanged, electrify and pare down the orchestration--here, the pit band numbers 17--speed up all dialogue and exaggerate all shticks.

Of course, it works, and no less in Redondo Beach than elsewhere. Tuesday night in the commodious (1,464 seats, excellent sight-lines) Aviation Park venue, it worked particularly well.

One cannot love the word-delivery, either spoken or sung, of the otherwise spirited, pointedly characterized and conscientious cast; too many of Gilbert’s crisp lines become mushy, not through quickness but through weakness of enunciation.

The singing, were it less loudly broadcast over the metallic sound-system, might often be acceptable. As it is, its qualities, whatever they are, are lost in distortion.

Still, positive aspects inform the total performance.

Conducting his colleagues with a pencil-size but mighty baton, Irv Kimber, the company’s co-founder and artistic director, enforces tight musical values and breezy pacing.

Craig Schaefer’s busy but never clumsy staging and choreography reiterates the cheekiness and energy of Wilford Leach’s original direction of the centennial production, deploying a small cast with great efficiency.

Musically effective and visually perfect, Louisa Parks (Mabel) and Nick Cavarra (Frederic) dominate the singing cast, as they should.

In a commanding, acrobatic performance, Vernon Willet (Pirate King) retains comedic bite while moving nonstop. In Act II, pie-faced Eddie Crew (Sergeant of Police) nearly steals the show. Throughout, Pamela Hamill (Ruth) and Bart Williams (Major-General Stanley) make the most of their opportunities. The young women and men of the chorus perform with irresistible panache.