THEATER REVIEWS : Melodrama Sets Sail With Popeye : With bright costumes and exaggerated action, the production brings the spinach-fueled seafarer and his colorful crew onstage.

The third production in Moorpark Melodrama’s current season of favorite shows from years past, “Popeye the Sailor” brings the vintage cartoon character to life.

Those who don’t know the characters might not appreciate the show as much as those who have followed Popeye, Olive Oyl, Wimpy and Brutus through the years, but the colorful costumes and exaggerated action should appeal to just about everybody.

Just be prepared to explain to the kids, as best you can, who Swee’pea’s father is, if his mother, Olive, is Popeye’s “best goil.”

Eugene Jackson’s script has villainous Brutus and his mother, the Sea Hag, conspiring to steal what they understand to be jewels from the Statue of Liberty, where Popeye is working as a tour guide. This, being a Moorpark Melodrama production, leads to a lot of singing and dancing. The choreography by Jason Prince and Stefanie Schwark is above-par for the group.

Prince stars as Popeye--with biceps bulging--and captures the sailor’s gravelly voice nicely. Pat Newbert isn’t as skinny as the comics’ Olive, but she has a strong sense of her fluttery personality, and Robert Porter and Kathi Janca Powell are comically scary as Brutus and the Sea Hag. Bill Stein, as the hamburger-loving mooch Wimpy, is said to be making his first theatrical appearance.

Toward the end of the show, there’s a special effect involving a hair-raising rescue that only the Melodrama could pull off with a straight face, which it certainly does.

The post-show vaudeville, a brief revue of ‘50s and ‘60s rock ‘n’ roll songs built around people’s names, is worth sticking around for: Wearing a black leather jacket and with his hair slicked into a pompadour, Prince is really in his element.

Details

* WHAT: “Popeye the Sailor.”

* WHEN: Thursdays at 7 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays at 3 p.m. (runs through June 3).

* WHERE: Magnificent Moorpark Melodrama & Vaudeville Co. Theater, 45 E. High St., Moorpark.

* HOW MUCH: $12.

* CALL: 529-1212.