The Gondoliers

Reviewed by Rebecca Haithcoat

RECOMMENDED:

Tackling a Gilbert and Sullivan opera is no small undertaking, especially for a cozy little 99-seat theater in a quaint town tucked in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. With a couple of slight yet clever tweaks — not to mention a golden-voiced cast — the Sierra Madre Playhouse’s current production of The Gondoliers impresses.

As an infant, Casilda (Kara Masek), the daughter of a Duke and Duchess (James Jaeger and Joy Weiser), was destined to marry the heir to the throne of Barataria. But the prince, as a baby, was handed over to a drunken gondolier who confused him with his own son.

With the children all grown up, and the king having just been killed, the two brothers-from-another-mother (both young gondoliers) must jointly rule until the prince’s nurse fingers the actual heir. Meanwhile the princess and her family have journeyed to Venice to meet the prince (even though nobody is yet sure who he is) and his family. To confuse matters further, the gondoliers have both married local girls, and the queen-to-be is in love with another man.

Director Alison Eliel-Kalmus uses an 1891 performance of the opera for Queen Victoria as the launching pad for her adaptation. She then leaps forward to the 1953 coronation of Elizabeth II, imaging this production as a run-through sans sets, costumes and props.

The set-up slightly falls apart midway through the show, but it’s a clever way for Sierra Madre Playhouse to work with what they have, to get away with no orchestra and a bare-bones stage, thereby escaping the crushing financial burden associated with a production of any opera. One actor, arriving for the “rehearsal,” tells another the space was free. “Smells free!” his friend replies.

Anyway, what the playhouse lacks in fancy accouterments, it makes up for in vocal talent and comic timing. Nary a sour note is struck as accompanist and musical director Leonardo Sciolis plays Sullivan’s sparkly-as-champagne score; no beats are missed in the great, galloping “A Regular Royal Queen” or the hilarious “From the Sunny Spanish Shore” (hats off to the rubber-faced Jaeger and the very funny John King as, respectively, the Duke and his Assistant).

Occasionally, the cast’s acting chops fail to reach the heights of their singing, but hummable ditties and kooky charm compensate — the puppy-like Jenna Augen, playing local maiden Tessa, for example, is adorable from the minute she pops her head through the stage trapdoor.

Sierra Madre Playhouse, 87 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2:30 p.m.; thru June 21. (626) 355-4318, www.sierramadreplayhouse.org