Great entertainment often comes from taking a well-known and successful story and transplanting it to another place and time. For example, take Wagon Train, the story of a wagon train making its way from Missouri to California, along the way meeting all sorts of strange and interesting people. Transplant it to outer space, and voilà, you have the classic "Star Trek". Now, suppose you took the classic Gilbert & Sullivan operetta “H.M.S. Pinafore” and transplanted it to outer space (specifically, the aforementioned world of Star Trek)... voilà, you have “U.S.S. Pinafore”, the musical we saw last night at Crown City Theatre.

“U.S.S. Pinafore” is actually a pretty straight retelling of the “H.M.S. Pinafore” story, with character name and costume changes, and of course adaptation of they lyrics to parody the TV show we all love. For those unfamiliar with the story, Pinafore tells the story of the U.S.S. Pinafore and it’s captain, Captain Corcoran (Jesse Merlin, [info]mistermerlin). While orbiting the planet Penzance 12 in deep space, a local star trader, Little Buttercup (Kathi Chaplar), boards. She hints that she may be hiding a dark secret. Ralph Rackstraw (Aidan Parkæ), a Transporter Assistant Repairman (TAR) enters and declares his love for the Captain's daughter, Josephine (Ashley Cuellar). The other red shirts on the crew (Bib Bobstay, first officer (Tim Polzinæ); T’Preea, Vulcan Communications Officer (Paton Ashbrookæ); Datum, Cyborg Navigator (Michael Levin); Dave Becket, Security Officer (Dave Bergesæ); and Dick Deadeye, a lizard-like alien (James Jaegeræ)) offer their sympathies, for a woman of her class would never end up with a TAR. Captain Cocoran greets his crew, complimenting them on their skill and promising to never ("well, hardly ever") use bad language. After the crew leaves, the Captain confesses that his daugher is reluctant to consider a marriage proposal from Sir Joseph Porter (Ron Schneideræ), head of the U.F.P. Buttercup says that she knows how it feels to love in vain. Josephine enters and reveals to her father that she loves a humble sailor in his crew, but she assures him that she is a dutiful daughter and will never reveal her love to this sailor. Sir Joseph comes on board, accompanied by the Trust Fund Girls, Phoebe (Misha Bouvionæ), Hebe (Victoria Gonzalez), and Jebe (Paton Ashbrookæ) (his sister, cousin and aunt, respectively). Porter recounts how he rose from humble beginnings to be head of the U.F.P. in a well-known patter song. He also declares that all crew in Star Fleet are equal, except to him. This emboldens Ralph to declare his love to Josephine, but annoys Dick Deadhead, the realist. We also learn that Dick, the lizard creature, once had a torrid affair with Phoebe. Josephine rejects Ralphs love, but when Ralph is about to commit suicide by phaser, she enters and admits she loves him after all. Later, while the Captain expresses his concern to Little Buttercup, he indicates that if it were not for the difference in their social standing, he would have returned her affection. She prophesies that things are not all as they seem and that "a change" is in store for him. Sir Joseph enters and complains that Josephine has not yet agreed to marry him, and the Captain speculates that she is probably dazzled by his "exalted rank" and that if Sir Joseph can persuade her that "love levels all ranks", she will accept his proposal. When Sir Joseph makes this argument, a delighted Josephine says that she "will hesitate no longer", and reaveals her plan to marry Ralph. All beam down to the planet, where the Captain and Sir Joseph confront the lovers. The pair declare their love, justifying their actions because "He is an Earthman!" The furious Captain blurts out the D-word, and is confined to quarters. Ralph indicates the reason, and Sir Joseph has the sailor "loaded with chains" and taken to the brig. Little Buttercup now comes forward to reveal her long-held secret: when children, she mixed up the captain and Ralph: The wellborn babe was Ralph; your Captain was the other. Ralph and the Captain enter, having switched tunics, and a series of couples are now formed.

As I said, a straightforward translation of Pinafore. However, their Star Trek parody was spot on as well, mixing cliches from both the original and new series. These ranged from the fact that every red shirt expected to die; that they all leaned to the side when the ship was attacked; that the scottish crew member loved to drink; that the Vulcan was overly logical; that alien probes were painful... well, you get the idea. The set was a parody of the original set, with TNG artwork (Okuda-screens). The computer, Al (Jason D. Rennie), kept controlling things, except when he wouldn’t open the pod doors. The music was updated to reflect that Star Trek setting and changes, although the best reaction came when the entire cast started singing “Star Trekking, across the Universe...”.

Musically, the production was excellent. Although the score was pre-recorded, the vocal quality of the cast was spot-on, having been made up of a number of locals actors with operatic quality voices (a number of whom had done local opera and caberets). Some of my favorites were Jessie Merlin as the Captain; we’ve seen Jessie before in “The Beastly Bombing. Jessie has a true operatic voice, and is an expert in Gilbert and Sullivan musicals, and is just fun to listen to. Also strong was Ashley Cuellar as Josephine—her credits indicate that she’s done a lot of caberet singing (you can hear her music on her MySpace page). As Ralph, Aidan Park had an incredibly strong voice. Of course, singling out these three is difficult, as the entire cast was great.
[æ denotes members of one of the 4-A performing arts unions, including æ Actors Equity ]

Acting-wise, you could tell this ensemble was just having fun with their characters. Just watching Michael Levin as Datum’s movements in a minor role, or Paton Ashbrook’s logical movements, or the little asides of Victoria Gonzalez... these folks were just getting into their characters and going with it. Of particular note was James Jaeger’s Deadeye, where he was going wild with being a lizard (he was doing so good, the Geico Gecko should watch out). This fun is infectious, and the audience had a great time with it. This is a testament to the talent of the actors and the skills of Jon Mullich, the director. Also help shaping this production were William A. Reilly (Musical Director) and Stephanie Pease (Choreographer), who made the stage come alive with movement and music.

Turning to the technical side: the sets (designed by Tony Potter) did a wonderful job of presenting the Star Trek bridge, with TNG elements, in a limited budget. There were consoles and computer screens and interactive displays—this went far beyond just a few blinking buttons, folks. Of course, this isn’t a surprise, as his bio makes it clear he is a Star Trek geek, and has worked with many of the original crew. C0stumes were by Caitlin Erin O’Hare, and reflected the original series costumes quite well. The lighting by Sarah Templeton made effective use of the space and created the mood well with color. This was all held together by Kimberly Bullockæ (Production Stage Manager) and Keiko Moreno (Assistant Stage Manager).

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This witty, irreverent, and hilarious mashup of Star Trek and Gilbert and Sullivan delighted on all levels - remarkably clever adaptation and excellent cast, as well as very good and one absolutely brilliant bit of stage tech made this a performance to remember. I hope to see it again! And I don't say that often....
One note, the theatre is in a highly improbable location, inside an uninspired-looking stucco church in a residential section of N. Hollywood. Don't let that put you off. Inside is a well designed, fantastic 99 seat theatre that completely transports you. This was as good as the best off-Broadway I've seen in NYC. And that's really, really good.

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This is the second time I have seen this Pinafore. It has changed in several subtle ways. The male crew now seems totally comfortable and delightful and very professional in their roles, the women are no better than before, because they were already perfect. The Captain is spot on and even better than my previous visit as is Dick Dead Eye, and Buttercup. They were excellent before and now even more enjoyable. The Josephine will make you fall in love with her.

Ralph is much better than before, even though still wooden, and his voice is not up to par with the others and therefore is unfortunately notable. The show would be improved by a more convincing Ralph with a professional voice and acting experience, but who cares. His role works because Josephine is so convincing.


I still have problems with the goofy countenance of Sir Joseph, which is so out of character with the potential and tradition of the part. He does the stern stuff very well, but has no idea how silly and distracting is his goofy overbearing grinning. He rushes his lines with no sense of the snooty imitation-elegance that is demanded by the part. His performance shifts his role from being central to the production to being a minor bit part. I am afraid he doesn't get it, but the show works with him downgraded to being a bit character.

I think that there have also been some favorable changes in the book and direction, and most of them are for the good, though, once again, Sir Joseph uses them to mug out of character without comic gain. My guest told me that I am too much of a Gilbert and Sullivan fan and actor (though never a purist) and therefore notice too much. She found Sir Joseph's off-character silliness acceptable and found him 'cute.' I just wish that this fine Director had found one of the many ways to give Sir Joseph a silliness consistent the G & S intention. I think this would have made the Play nearly perfect, since the rest of the book and acting and direction were so remarkably good.

This production brings the best of operetta's feel good satyric humor. It lets us feel the rollicking fun that G &S once brought to the masses. It gives us an experienced cast with wonderful professional chops. It lets us have fun with Pinafore and selections from the Mikado. All and all, you will have a roaring good time. Go see this show, you won't be sorry.

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I loved this Pinafore production. Kudos to the Director. It was imaginative. It was up-beat. It was well staged. It made Gilbert and Sullivan accessible to people not so familiar with the genre, and the director knew exactly the moments when a good broad aside would be useful to the audience. Terrific. The Josephine was so much better than perfect, that thinking of her performance brings tears to my eyes. The Captain really understood his part and played it with masterful amount of G & S innocent stupidity. His only flaw was that, even though his voice is great, he didn't enunciate the words in the beautiful "Fair Moon to Thee I Sing", which should be the show stopper. I longed for his success on that song, but even minus success on "Fair Moon", he was fabulous. Dick Dead Eye's expanded character was a brilliant idea....... an opportunity to shine for a very deserving actor/singer. I wish he had done the tongue bit once, and then milked it for its comic sexual innuendo in his seduction scene only. I found it distracting, and it compromised his wonderful acting in the other occasions where he used it unnecessarily. His girlfriend has a presence so powerful that everyone's eyes were glued to her green dress, her every move.... dancing, mugging, whatever. What a beautiful and talented woman. I could have said the same of the Klingon actress, but by the necessity of her role, she had to be emotionless and non demonstrative, which she did without a flaw... another beautiful and talented actress. The small parts were also done very well: performances that the guys should be very happy with. Buttercup was much better than many I have seen, but I felt the staging of the great goofy number with the Captain was weak (I have seen it to be a great laugher). The trio with the Captain, Josephine and Sir Joseph is traditionally so well done that it requires encore after encore, and I think its brilliance was also largely wasted. Part of the problem may have been that Sir Joseph was terrible. He has a great speaking voice, but he looked goofy and clueless, as though a rotund audience member was asked to stand in with no rehearsal. Instead of dominating the stage in his numbers, he looked self conscious and bewildered. Because of Sir J's wasted role, poor Hebe had nothing to play off of, so her part got lost though I have no doubt she is a very competent singer/actor. Ralph did the best he could, but he has a weakish voice for an operetta-ic tenor, and was unconvincing as a "Dudley Do Right," irresistibly handsome-sexy guy. I know that in G & S we are required to suspend our desire for type casting accuracy, however the trade off is supposed to be a great voice, or great actor, or great fame or some combination thereof. Ralph tried with sympathetic sincerity , but next to the other actors who so dominated their parts, he stuck out like a sore thumb.

Saying all this, I intend to come back again, and this time with a party of friends. I am sending referrals to a great many of them. This is great entertainmet. Thanks

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