THEATER REVIEWS : Yorba Linda Brings ‘Me and My Girl’ Together

The riddle to a successful “Me and My Girl” is easily solved: Find an actor with zip and a way with bad puns to play Bill Snibson and you’ve found most of the answer.

The Yorba Linda Civic Light Opera has the right man for its revival of this amusingly brainless musical, written more than 50 years ago by Noel Gay (music) and L. Arthur Rose and Douglas Furber (book and lyrics).

Tim Kashani brings vervy singing and stepping (he’s equally able with tap dancing and prat-falling) and ripe comic rhythm to this “My Fair Gentleman” tale of a Cockney lad thrown into the churning high seas of English high society.

You may groan at some of the 1930s British musical hall wordplay and slapstick, but Kashani’s flair refreshes much of it.

When Snibson learns he’s the newly found 14th Earl of Hareford, now a gent of wealth and standing, it’s like a crazy dream come true. Simple bloke he is, Snibson envisions the same streetwise life he’s led, only with a difference--more money to have fun with.

But there’s a catch. To get the dough, Snibson first has to prove he fits in with the upper-crust. It’s just too bad he has so much crust. The crude, effervescent Snibson fits in like an elephant at a dinner party. Everybody’s uncomfortable, including Snibson, and the gags make a big hoopla over that.

Lesser productions usually indulge the vaudevillian mania of “Me and My Girl,” but director Lara Teeter is pretty good at finding a balance. This is a wild staging with its share of mugging and prancing, but the campiness comes across as infectious, not labored.

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The “My Girl” in the equation helps to keep the show lively. As Sally Smith, Snibson’s working-class sweetheart, Julie Seaborn is a lovingly rambunctious mate. These two complement each other like bookends. Their “Me and My Girl” duet is nicely done, and Seaborn handles the romantic “Once You Lose Your Heart” with grace.

In secondary roles, Chris Sands is mincingly opportunistic as the very affected Gerald Bollingbroke, and Jennifer Nemirow is properly vampy as Lady Jaqueline Carstone. One of the best moments comes when Rod Burton as Parchester gets a little goofy in that haywire number, “The Family Solicitor.”

This show looks good, too; certainly better than the shabby “Dames at Sea” offered by the company a few months ago. Charles D. Ketter’s sets, while obviously managed on a small budget, are bright and accommodating. Nancy Dock’s costumes are excellent, as colorful as all the hi-jinks onstage.

*”Me and My Girl,” Yorba Linda Forum, 4175 Fairmont Blvd., Yorba Linda. Thursday-Saturday, 8 p.m., Sunday, 2 p.m., with a 2 p.m. matinee June 26, through June 27. $9-$13.50. (714) 779-8591. Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes. Jennifer Nemirow: Lady Jaqueline Carstone

Chris Sands: Gerald Bollingbroke

Dave Pruhs: Lord Battersby

Jane Delman: Lady Battersby

Rod Burton: Herbert Parchester

Dean Jones: Sir Jasper Tring

D.D. Calhoun: Maria Duchess of Dene

Edward Wright: Sir John Tremayne

Tim Kashani: Bill Snibson

Julie Seaborn: Sally Smith

Fredric S. Kerns: Charles, the butler

A Yorba Linda Civic Light Opera production. Music by Noel Gay. Book and lyrics by L. Arthur Rose and Douglas Furber. Directed and choreographed by Lara Teeter. Musical direction by Mitchell Hanlon. Sets by Charles Ketter. Costumes by Nancy Dock. Lighting by Edward Huber.