Comic ‘Popeye the Sailor’ Won’t Hold Water

The musical “Popeye the Sailor,” notes director Caprice Spencer Rothe, has more to do with E.C. Segar’s original comic strip than do subsequent animated versions.

This is valuable information, because it’s doubtful that anyone stepping inside the charmingly snug New England-style Maritime Center at the Orange County Marine Institute would have heard of the stage musical.

Arriving just four years after Robert Altman’s dubious movie musical version, the 1984 R. Eugene Jackson/Carl Alette edition has a mysterious pedigree; as best as we can ascertain, it was produced to honor the Statue of Liberty centennial on New York’s Liberty Island. (There is some indication the show was done at the site.)

What the authors were thinking to link Popeye, Olive Oyl, Brutus and the bunch with the grand old statue is beyond us: Jackson’s book is as thin and silly as the comic strip, but it breaks under the strain of having the characters scamper around the Statue of Liberty, even injecting a patriotic paean (“Freedom”) that stops the show dead.

From Richard Rodgers’ “Two by Two” at the Santa Ana Zoo to a Gilbert & Sullivan revue on a tall ship in Dana Harbor, the Orange County Light Opera company has gone out of its way to reject conventional stagings and find the right spot for the right show.

But the Maritime Center is too cramped for the show’s hyper-activity on Todd Fuessel’s wood-planked set; some broken planks even caused a little worry Saturday night that cast members might break a leg maneuvering in such tiny quarters.

Also, because of the minimal space, music director Marti Klein must resort to taped synthesizer. Not that the score deserves a live band. Alette’s music goes from A to A, a deadening series of 4/4 numbers that hardly varies in note or key. Most children’s theater musicals--which this “Popeye” more often than not resembles--have richer scores.

Rothe has cast her show with the idea of bringing Segar’s figures to life--and in this she’s far ahead of Altman’s version. Lacking only the big-toed shoes, Jennifer Lyons’ Olive is the showstopper, an effortless vision of lanky, rubber-limbed silliness whose distress cries of “Oooh!” are pure comedy pathos.

*

Gerald J. Reyes looks like Segar’s Popeye (Sharon Moore’s big-nose mask design helps) but lacks the sailor’s growl and swagger. Lloyd Botway captures the balance of Brutus’ bully and teddy-bear sides, but as his overseer, Caroli Waynick’s Sea Hag fumbles lines and timing and is hardly a believable nemesis to Popeye.

Stacey Ellis’ burger-loving Wimpy can’t sing but does provide some mild comic relief until his caper with some Daughters of the American Revolution wears thin.

The entire show wears thin--it’s too long at two hours--which begs the question: Is Popeye one of those heroes best taken in the small bites of a comic strip or cartoon? Perhaps not even spinach can make him last the distance of a musical.

* “Popeye the Sailor,” Orange County Marine Institute’s Maritime Center, 24200 Dana Point Harbor Drive, Dana Point. Friday-Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2:30 p.m. Ends Nov. 23. $10-$12. (714) 496-2274. Running time: 2 hours.

Gerald J. Reyes: Popeye

Jennifer Lyons: Olive Oyl

Caroli Waynick: Sea Hag

Lloyd Botway: Brutus

Stacey Ellis: Wimpy

Eleni Savvaides: Mamie

Rossann Andrews: Hazel

Diane Kelsey: Polly

An Orange County Light Opera production of the R. Eugene Jackson/Carl Alette musical. Based on E.C. Segar’s characters. Directed by Caprice Spencer Rothe. Music director: Marti Klein. Set: Todd Fuessel. Choreographer: Deborah South. Masks and puppets: Sharon Moore.