Strong Voices, Light Plot in ‘Swingtime Canteen’

“Swingtime Canteen,” a featherweight exercise in World War II-era nostalgia, is the fourth recent musical that features the 1936 standard “Sing, Sing, Sing.”

But unlike “Fosse,” “Swing!” and “Contact”--which actually focused more on dancing than singing--”Swingtime Canteen” sings more than it dances.

It has a slight handicap in the dance department--this is an all-female show. So don’t expect the era’s couples dancing.

“Swingtime” is not quite an all-singing show, however. It also has a book--by three writers, no less: Linda Thorsen Bond, William Repicci and Charles Busch. The writers don’t get bios in the Fullerton Civic Light Opera program. The organization’s more conservative patrons are therefore spared the knowledge that Busch is most famous for creating drag extravaganzas such as “Vampire Lesbians of Sodom”--although he is on his way to wider fame for Broadway’s “The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife,” which will play L.A. next year.

The Fullerton production is staged by Busch colleague Kenneth Elliott, who directed the 1995 off-Broadway version, and a hint of Busch’s sensibility shows up in a few of the wisecracks in “Swingtime Canteen.” But they don’t register as especially outrageous. Maybe they did when Busch himself took over the role of the leading lady in New York in 1995.

The leading lady is a somewhat over-the-hill Hollywood movie star who is heading a troupe of women on a tour of military bases, starting in London.

“Swingtime Canteen” consists entirely of the show as seen by the GIs in London. The dialogue in between the 21 period musical numbers suggests--in superficial fashion--what the characters are like offstage, but we don’t actually see them behind the scenes, as we did with the women and men in the similar but much more affecting “The 1940’s Radio Hour.”

Teri Ralston plays Marian Ames, the movie star, looking “a tad nervous,” which is how the character describes herself, as if she’s fretful about performing live in a war zone after all those pampered shoots on sound stages. But Ralston’s rich voice doesn’t waver as she delivers her two solos and joins in the group numbers.

Marian’s younger compatriots include brassy Jo (Karen Oster), who dances with an audience member and also doubles on drums; the peroxide-blond, long-legged Lilly (Penny Ayn Maas), who apparently stole Jo’s guy; the Rosie the Riveter-style Topeka (Jo Monteleone), whose 4-F hubby is home with the kids; and Marian’s girlish niece Katie (Kelli Maguire), who pines for a GI she met at the Hollywood Canteen. All of them wear white, glittery outfits, with a few strategic variations, designed by Sharell Martin.

Behind the principals, but not speaking or singing, are four uniformed WAC instrumentalists (Cindy Bradley, Karen Middlebrook, June Satton, Venetia Phillips), directed by Monteleone, who’s usually at the piano. Actually, almost everyone on stage plays an instrument--or at least appears to. The sound isn’t as big as you might expect from a big band of that era, but it backs up the singers well enough.

The individual voices are strong--Maas’ is the lightest, but she heats up her “Daddy” solo with her moves. And the voices come together beautifully in an a cappella “Apple Blossom Time.”

We finally see why the show is set in London--air raid sirens and the sound of nearby bombing raise the dramatic stakes briefly. But generally the narrative elements are negligible.

*

* “Swingtime Canteen,” Plummer Auditorium, 201 E. Chapman Ave., Fullerton. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Also next Sunday, 7 p.m., and July 28, 2 p.m. Ends July 29. $16-$38. (714) 879-1732. Running time: 2 hours.

Teri Ralston: Marian Ames

Penny Ayn Maas: Lilly McBain

Karen Oster: Jo Sterling

Jo Monteleone: Topeka Abotelli

Kelli Maguire: Katie Gammersflugel

Written by Linda Thorsen Bond, William Repicci, Charles Busch. Orchestrations and vocal arrangements by Bob McDowell. Special material by Dick Gallagher. Directed by Kenneth Elliott. Choreographed by Sonja Haney. Musical director Jo Monteleone. Set by Larry Knigge. Costumes by Sharell Martin. Lighting by Jacqui Jones Watson. Sound by A. J. Gonzalez. Production stage manager Donna R. Parsons.