Pirates With Panache in Brea

Why it has been 17 years since the last major revival of Gilbert & Sullivan’s “The Pirates of Penzance” is anyone’s guess, since it is the British operetta duo’s most delectable--and probably silliest--confection. The combo of Kevin Kline, Linda Ronstadt, Rex Smith and Estelle Parsons possibly made it pointless for anyone else to try.

In the meantime, while we wait for the next generation’s major attempt, lower budget regional groups such as Ray Limon and Joshua Carr’s company from the San Diego area-based Avo Playhouse are keeping the “Pirates” flame alive with a sometimes nutty, energetically paced staging at the Curtis Theatre in Brea.

Reports of San Diego audience members rolling in the aisles are a little hard to square with what we see here, which begins in truly inspired comic mode but struggles to sustain that level.

There’s also the sense that director Limon has a few good ideas he’s too in love with. Goosing up the Victorian-era music with pop culture accents, Limon has the ever-vibrant Eric Anderson as the Pirate King burst early on into an Elvis impression to wow the comely daughters of the Major-General (Dale Jones). It’s the right irreverent touch at the right moment, and Anderson does a mean Elvis. But when Carr as Frederic, longtime indentured servant to the pirates, later does his own turn as Elvis, it’s like doing the same gag twice.

And G & S knew this, above all: Never, ever, repeat your best gag.

At the same time, Limon’s cast (some from the Avo premiere, some new to the production) is smartly assembled, especially in the operetta’s quirky quartet of lead roles: Carr balances Anderson’s over-the-top virility with a low-key, straight-arrow approach, like Dudley Doright’s quieter brother; Carolyn Casey, with a fine, high-register soprano, is pure maidenhood as Mabel, contrasted with the wiles and schemes of pirate gal Ruth, played with spunky verve by the outstanding musical comic Ann Peck.

Of course, Jones is able to steal it all from everyone else, sauntering in late in Act 1 to reel off “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General”--one of the great moments in all of G & S theater. Jones gets all the word spew down pat, and he struts like an elderly cock-of-the-walk.

Limon’s choreography is able to fill the Curtis’ spacious stage, though the execution isn’t consistently up to Sullivan’s clipped, precise time signatures (inconsistently played by the backing piano-reeds quartet under Carr’s musical direction). The set by Jenifer Tiglio and Ellwood Smith seems to have fit the smaller Avo stage but appears minuscule in the Curtis space. Still, it’s that much more room for Anderson and company to display their well-sung foolishness.

* “The Pirates of Penzance,” Curtis Theatre, 1 Civic Center Circle, Brea. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Ends May 24. $7-$15. (714) 990-7722. Running time: 2 hours.

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“The Pirates of Penzance”

Eric Anderson: Pirate King

Joshua Carr: Frederic

Carolyn Casey: Mabel

Ann Peck: Ruth

Dale Jones: Major-General Stanley

Joshua Patrick: Samuel

Jill Lewis: Edith

Alli Mauzey: Kate

Justin Robertson: Sergeant

A Limon/Carr production of Gilbert & Sullivan’s operetta. Director-choreographer: Ray Limon. Musical direction: Joshua Carr. Set: Jenifer Tiglio and Ellwood Smith. Lights: Jennifer Edwards. Costumes: Carlotta Malone.