The Gondoliers, the Lyric Opera’s production playing at the Birch North Park Theatre through February 13, was one of Gilbert and Sullivan’s last compositions and by then they had the formula for success down. Set an improbable story in a far-off land; make sure that there are roles for younger people with beautiful voices; give them some lovely melodies to sing; include roles for character singers who can do comedy; give them humorous patter songs to take at the speed of light; and include some not terribly veiled contemporary references in the book and lyrics so that the audience can laugh without taking sides, politically.

It worked, nearly every time. But some worked better than others, and this one works only ok. Here's how the winning G&S formula plays out.

The improbable story, set in a far-off land: two handsome Venetian gondoliers (Benjamin Robinson and Jordan Miller) decide to marry, and all the young women in town are after them. In a game of pin-the-tale-on-the-bride, the two men manage to pick the women to whom they were most attracted, Tessa (Laura Bueno) and Gianetta (Caroline Nelms). Of course, there are complications no one could have imagined, however: it turns out that one of the young men is of royal lineage and was given in marriage as an infant to a woman named Casilda (Shelly Hart Breneman). Casilda’s parents (Brian Imoto and Pamela Laurent) have not told her about her marriage, however, and she has in the meantime fallen in love with Luiz (Christian Sanders), a servant in the household. Needless to say, it will take the faithful nurse, Inez (Martha Jane Weaver) to reveal all of the mix-ups and make everyone live happily ever after.

Sounds like a lot of story, and it is – too much, in fact. The Lyric prides itself in presenting shows as written and without cuts, but at two and a half hours some judicious trimming would have helped.

The beautiful voices singing lovely melodies: if nothing else, the Lyric is a place to hear fine young voices develop, and this crop of young singers is either local or veterans of previous Lyric productions. All of them do well vocally, particularly Mr. Miller and Mr. Robinson as the title characters. Mr. Sanders is still attending Point Loma Nazarene, and he has a voice whose colors belie his age. He is someone to watch. Unfortunately, the choral work was erratic, sometimes producing a big, tight, sound, while at other times sounding like a bunch of competing individual voices.

The melodies are there, as well, but in not such great quantity as in more famous G&S shows. And, they tend to sound alike in the hands of conductor Leon Natker, who overemphasizes the signature ta DUM ta DUM ta DUM ta DA rhythm to the point of pounding. And the flat, one-dimensional, staging and choreography, by Mr. Natker and J. Sherwood Montgomery, robs most of the characters of the opportunity to be more than mildly funny. Thank goodness for local stalwart Martha Jane Weaver, whose five minutes at the end of the show brings some humorous life to the proceedings!

Include character roles who sing humorous patter songs: the patter songs are there, but they’re not so humorous and certainly not as speedy as they might be, despite good efforts by Mr. Imoto, and Ms. Laurent in the primary comedic roles.

Include veiled contemporary references: well, the show has been reset to the post-World War II era, perhaps to allow Lyric vet Pam Stompoly-Ericson to create Carnival-in-Venice costumes, but the contemporary references are to things people in that era had never heard of, such as a dot-com IPO. Enough said.

So, The Gondoliers is not Gilbert and Sullivan’s best work, but in good hands it could be a delight. A good G&S company sings well and is nimble and light on its feet. This one sings well.

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