THEATER REVIEW : A Couple of ‘Jerry’s Girls’ Stand Out From the Crowd : Balladeer Lisa Richard and comic singer Pat Boldt do their best to redeem the tired musical direction and staging.

A critic once said that Jerry Herman didn’t write songs, he wrote anthems. It’s a very good way of explaining the sense of energy in Herman’s writing and its insistence on being entertaining.

Although the production of “Jerry’s Girls” at the Cabrillo Playhouse is often entertaining, the lack of energy in Dan Blackley’s direction, and more especially in the plonky musical direction and accompaniment by Diane King Vann, takes a lot of sparkle out of the evening.

What works splendidly is the performance by Lisa Richard. She wisely has been given most of the ballads, from “It Only Takes a Moment” to “I Am What I Am,” and her inner fire and flawless vocal technique are exceptional, along with her fine understanding of how to make a ballad into a piece of acting. She knows how to slide off a plaintive note with subdued passion and just the right moments to open up and wail.

Pat Boldt has some highlights in her solos, too. A good brassy musical comedy delivery puts over such Herman standards as “Just Leave Everything to Me” (though sending Boldt into the audience during the song was a dumb move), the comic razzmatazz of “Look What Happened to Mabel,” and the lingering, haunting “Song of the Sand.” Most of the comedy in the show, the comedy songs included, come very close to hitting the nail on the head in the hands of April Morgan, who is often funny, even when she’s tailgating a vocal pitch.

The three backup singers/dancers, Nanci Fast, Danette Haddad and Jacqueline Prince, aren’t as accomplished, and musical director Vann compounds her turgidity by not altering the trio’s numbers so that their upper registers fade out to nothingness. When the key is low enough, they do well enough.

*

Perry B. Ash’s costumes sparkle literally and figuratively, but there’s a decided lack of sparkle in Bob Murphy’s choreography, which might look a bit better, especially during the humorous sections, with more accomplished dancers. Ed Howie’s lighting design is an on-and-off affair, usually pretty bright, but at some inopportune moments completely off, and Paul Vogler’s setting, which purports to have something to do with Manhattan, is sketchy and looks as though it was done in about an hour.

* “Jerry’s Girls,” Cabrillo Playhouse, 202 Avenida Cabrillo, San Clemente. Wednesdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m., Sunday matinee. April 17, 2 p.m. Ends April 23. $10. (714) 492-0465. Running time: 1 hours, 50 minutes. Ensemble: Pat Boldt, April Morgan, Lisa Richard, Nanci Fast, Danette Haddad, Jacqueline Prince.

A Cabrillo Playhouse production of Jerry Herman’s cabaret musical. Directed by Dan Blackley. Scenic design: Paul Vogler. Musical director: Diane King Vann. Costume design: Perry B. Ash. Choreography: Bob Murphy. Lighting design: Ed Howie. Stage manager: Terri Gilbert.