‘Mr. Roberts’ docks at playhouse

Tom Titus

One of the great closing lines in the American theater goes like

this: “Captain, it is I, Ensign Pulver, and I just threw your damn,

stinking palm tree overboard. Now, what’s all this crap about no

movies tonight.”

I know. I got the chance to utter those words several eons ago,

playing a role I coveted badly enough to memorize the script before

auditions. And “Mister Roberts” has long been one of my favorite

shows, from the mid-50s movie version to various stage incarnations.

Next weekend, the USS Reluctant docks at the Huntington Beach

Playhouse and a new generation of audiences will make the

acquaintance of Lt. (j.g.) Roberts, Ensign Pulver, the Doc and one of

the two the most vilified ship’s captains in fiction -- the other

being the Caine’s Captain Queeg.

Directing “Mr. Roberts” is Gigi Fusco Meese, on loan from the Long

Beach Playhouse where she’s managing director. Meese’s production of

“Squabbles” was voted best comedy of the Huntington Beach Playhouse’s

previous season.

The play, for those who’ve managed to avoid it all these years, is

set aboard a Navy cargo vessel during the waning days of World War

II, where its title character, Executive Officer Douglas Roberts,

yearns for a combat mission. His problem is, he’s doing his job of

cargo officer much too well for the captain to consider approving a

transfer. Roberts’ clash with the Skipper is only one of the plots

hatching aboard the Reluctant. There’s the laid-back Pulver who

spends most of the time in his bunk and the rest of it scouring

neighboring islands for nurses. And there are the bored and restless

crew members who don’t have an enemy to fight, so they battle each

other.

The Thomas Heggen-Joshua Logan dramatic comedy won Broadway’s Tony

award in 1948 and has been a favorite revival piece for local theater

groups ever since.

The upcoming version features Sheb Alahmari, Skip Blas, Scott

Conrad, Tom Fitzgerald, Fred Griffith, Kevin Harvey, Marco Hurtado,

Sean Jackson, Brett Kurtz, John MacDonald, Shaun McNamara, Robert

Purcell, Ron Radmer, Larry Stewart, Carl Warina and Lori White in the

show’s lone female role of a Navy nurse.

“Mr. Roberts” opens April 25 for a three-weekend engagement at the

playhouse, 7111 Talbert Ave., Huntington Beach, in the city’s main

library complex. The show will be presented at 8 p.m. Thursdays and

Fridays, 3 and 8 p.m. Saturdays and 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays through May

11.

To come aboard, call the playhouse box office at (714) 375-0696.

Tickets also are available online at www.hbph.com.

* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Independent.