Theater Review : ‘Two by Two’ Would Be at Sea If Not for Noah

SANTA ANA — Yep, that’s a real cock crowing somewhere behind the Santa Ana Zoo Amphitheatre, where the Orange County Light Opera Company is reviving Richard Rodgers’ “Two by Two.” Alas, sometimes the cock is more audible than some of the singers.

This company likes to find appropriate environments for its productions. Thus, the Pilgrim, the tall ship in Dana Point Harbor, was used for a “Gilbert & Sullivan on the High Seas” revue in 1994 and Santa Ana’s Old County Courthouse was used for “Trial by Jury” and “Cox & Box” earlier this year.

For “Two by Two”--a sweetly comic musical account (based loosely on Clifford Odets’ play “The Flowering Peach”) of Noah, his family and a very big ark holding two each of all of Earth’s creatures--a zoo seems the right setting.

The problem is, but for some of that crowing, this small amphitheater could be anywhere. Don’t expect zebras and toucans to be part of the surroundings; indeed, the ambient sound of the Santa Ana Freeway is a constant, compromising element here.

At first, actually, the amphitheater stage seems all wrong: For a biblical desert story, there’s a plethora of bushy and hanging greenery (sometimes shading and partially concealing the actors’ faces). The accompanying duo (Larry Nolte on drums and Rashad Chichakly on piano) are garbed amusingly in headdresses and caftans but, less amusingly, sound flat and hollow.

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This is a show, in other words, with a few leaky holes in its bow.

All it takes, though, is Scott K. Ratner’s funny, chummy performance as the kvetchiest Noah you’ll ever meet (a role originally designed for Danny Kaye) to steer this show back on course.

Ratner’s Noah, a scrawny 600-year-old, in an unlikely hero, a funnier, livelier Tevye swept into talks with God (“Why Me?” he sings to the Man Upstairs). Ratner is at his funniest trying to convince the rest of the clan that God expects them to build a boat that will weather 40 days and 40 nights of the flood to end all floods.

Sons Ham (George Almond) and Shem (Sheldon Craig) think he’s mad, but he’s just a fellow taking God at his word. So if God made no mention of a rudder for the ark, there’ll be no rudder. Bradley Miller’s passionate, assured Japeth is the youngest, most skeptical son, who dares question authority, God on down, and even loves Ham’s wife, Rachel (Nona Watson). This is the melodrama you didn’t read about in the Old Testament, and Miller and Watson propel it with emotional conviction and fine voices.

Curiously for a light opera company that specializes in G&S;, director Kent Johnson’s cast demonstrates an uneven range of voices. As Noah’s long-suffering wife, Esther, Patricia Miller exudes maternal affection but barely can be heard above the band; the same problem plagues Craig as Shem and musical director Marti Klein as a showgirl who wandered in from town. You’d hate to hear this show miked in the sunny outdoors, but it almost might help.

One still can spot the classic Rodgers sound, though, as in “I Do Not Know a Day I Did Not Love You,” and the clever rhymes by “Annie” lyricist Martin Charnin. Ratner’s final covenant with God manages to be both an ideal comic coda and a fine bit of religious humanism as he wisecracks, “We’ll keep your name. But you’ll have to deal with us.”

* “Two by Two,” Santa Ana Zoo Amphitheatre, Prentice Park, 1801 E. Chestnut Ave., Santa Ana. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2:30 p.m. Ends Aug. 6. $10-$12. (714) 440-9122. Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes. Note: Bring a pillow and blanket.

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Scott K. Ratner: Noah

Patricia Miller: Esther

Bradley Miller: Japeth

Sheldon Craig: Shem

Lisa Schuyler: Leah

George Almond: Ham

Nona Watson: Rachel

Marti Klein: Goldie

An Orange County Light Opera Company production of a musical by Richard Rodgers, Martin Charnin and Peter Stone, directed by Kent Johnson. Musical direction: Marti Klein. Choreography: Bradley Miller. Set: Jim Klein. Costumes: John Huntington.