The Pirates of Penzance is an operetta that has more than a little taste of Broadway in it. Operettas, whose music is written for operatic voices, are sometimes performed with a wink and a nod to those who might think the singers less than serious for doing so. There is little confusion here, though. Pirates originally opened on Broadway on New Year’s Eve, December 31, 1879, and its production record indicates that it was a frequent Broadway resident throughout the 20^th Century. The Metropolitan Opera, on the other hand, has never produced the show. Interestingly, Pirates’ Broadway popularity has waned: there have been no productions in almost 30 years, and the last one did not feature opera singers. Rather, Kevin Kline (as the Pirate King), Estelle Parsons (as Ruth) and George Rose (as Major General Stanley) got to show their chops as consummate Broadway performers, while Linda Ronstadt (as Mabel) and Rex Smith (as Frederic) brought pop music audiences to Broadway (apparently, few knew that Ms. Ronstadt could field a coloratura soprano).

Interestingly, San Diego currently has two productions of Pirates on the boards, one at the Welk Resorts Theatre and the other at the Lyric Opera. The Welk production, on a small stage with a reduced cast and orchestra, plays it tongue-in-cheek, while the Lyric, with a complete company of singers and a full orchestra, performs the show as originally written. I haven’t seen the Welk version, but I did catch up with the Lyric’s production. It’s lovely to see and hear, but it’s not very fast on its feet.

Opera is often constructed around silly stories, but Gilbert and Sullivan’s operettas are usually deliberately silly and satirical. Pirates is a case in point: it tells the story of a young man who was accidentally apprenticed to pirates (he was supposed to have been apprenticed to a pilot). Frederic (Benjamin Robinson) realized the mistake early on but was constrained to continue by an overly developed sense of duty (these are Victorian times after all, and a picture of her majesty hangs prominently over the proceedings). The pirates, led by their King (Ashraf Sewailam) aren’t terribly adept themselves. They let any victims who are orphans go, because they are orphans themselves. Of course, word has gotten out, and all of the pirates’ potential victims turn out to be orphans.

Upon his release, Frederic rejects the advances of his former nurse, Ruth (Fran Hartshorn) in favor of encountering the sixteen daughters of Major General Stanley (J. Sherwood Montgomery). He singles out Mabel (Megan Weston) from among those daughters and is promptly smitten. But, the pirates have followed Frederic and plot to kidnap the daughters and marry them. General Stanley calls out the law, in the form of eight bumbling police officers, led by their Sergeant (Walter DuMelle). Chaos ensues, until Ruth intervenes with news that the pirates are really noblemen “gone wrong.” By the end, the daughters are happily coupled, and the pirates resume their rightful places in society.

Mr. Robinson and Ms. Weston make a handsome couple, and Mr. Robinson displayed a lyric tenor that easily soared to the heights demanded by the score. Ms. Weston’s voice was also lyric (those hoping for coloratura ornamentation will be disappointed), and it began evening tentatively and grew as the performance progressed. The sound was very nice by the time the evening ended, but I wished that it had been that nice throughout. Mr. Sewailam made for a virile Pirate King, and he displayed a smooth and chocolaty baritone. In the comic roles, Ms. Hartshorn and Mr. Dumelle showed some flair for both tone and timing, while Mr. Montgomery ably clowned his way through the Major General’s patter songs. In the smaller roles, Sarah E. Brand (Edith), Mary Boles (Kate), Claire Kennelly (Isabel), and Jonathan Lucero (Samuel) sang capably but all had trouble being heard over the orchestra (which, under the direction of Leon Natker, generally was well balanced and accompanied sensitively). The choral sound (as prepared by Janie Prim) was variable. The entire ensemble performed well together, but the women were sometimes harsh and shrill when singing alone, and the police ensemble was not always well coordinated.

The production was generally a traditional one. Mr. Montgomery favors fly-in set pieces that add color and some dimension, but in the end look like fly-in set pieces. Matthew Novotny’s lighting design made those set pieces look particularly nice, however, and subtly served to shift focus on stage when needed. Pam Stompoly-Ericson contributed costumes that were both colorful and appropriate to the period.

Mr. Natker’s direction attempted to underline the humor, but sometimes it did so in too obvious ways. The cast also had some difficulty executing the uncredited choreography, and at times tempi were quite lugubrious, adding to a somewhat stodgy feel to the performance. But, there were also times, when the music and movement swirled together quite nicely.

The Lyric’s Pirates could have been funnier, but at least it was nice to watch and hear. Performances continue through April 11 at the Birch North Park Theatre.

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