Steel Beam's 'Wild Goat' tamer than expected

"Wild Goat" can be charming, fun and also a bit of a let down.

Many top-notch ingredients are in place to make "Wild Goat" a rollicking and family-friendly musical, but some of those elements arrive half-baked in this "official" world premiere at Steel Beam Theatre. (A West Coast production of the same show with a different title, "The Girl, The Grouch and the Goat," arrived a few weeks earlier at the Chance Theater in Anaheim, Calif.)

No doubt, expectations wouldn't be as high for "Wild Goat" if it didn't have Tony Award-winning composer/lyricist Mark Hollmann attached to it. Hollmann's collaboration with playwright Greg Kotis on the Broadway hit "Urinetown - The Musical" was a satirical gold mine. That show scrappily spoofed other musicals' conventions while remaining its own self-contained comedy creation (along with a serious environmental message, to boot).

Hollmann's eclectic score for "Wild Goat" is enjoyably filled with romantic ballads, "wanting songs" and jazzy numbers. Yet "Wild Goat" comes off as a trifle when compared to "Urinetown."

Hollmann's music might have had more of an impact if it had been framed with a sturdier script by playwright Jack Helbig (also a freelance arts contributor to the Daily Herald). Inspired by ancient Greek playwright Menander's "Dyskolos" ("Grouch"), "Wild Goat" concerns an ill-tempered well owner who tries to thwart the budding romance between his sheltered daughter and the handsome son of a wealthy widow (who despises the girl's father).

Helbig's script is amusing, but stumbles when it veers away from the plot in favor of self-aware anachronistic jokes. The constant comparisons of young men to busses fell flat, while fleeting mentions of the 1990 musical "Once on This Island" and the premise of "Urinetown" garnered few laughs.

Helbig's device of using two narrators who also double as put-upon slave characters is fun, but they could have been provided with better establishing speeches and more personality (right now actors Michael Henry and Terry A. Christianson come off as agreeably bland in the parts).

As the well owner Clemnon (whom everyone calls "The Grouch"), Tony Calzaretta appears to be miscast. He seems too harmlessly boyish, especially when he should be more comically menacing as a crotchety and overprotective father (Calzaretta assumes a grizzled speaking voice that oddly disappears to reveal a nice baritone when he sings).

Much more convincing is Nancy Kolton as brassy rich widow Xanthippe, who shines in her torch-song belt number "Nothing's Stopping Me."

But where Steel Beam has hit the musical comedy jackpot is with the casting of Amy Steele and Michael Buonincontro as the romantic couple, Myrrhinne and Xander, plus Stephanie Herman in the multiple roles of the sarcastic sister Daria, the flighty goddess Aphrodite and the slippery wild goat.

All three of these actors sing like a dream under Jeremy Ramey's music direction, and they are all perfect with their comic timing. Steele is wonderful as the gangly beauty Myrrhinne, who falls for Buonincontro's long-limbed and expertly understated Xander.

Herman makes the most of her multiple roles, offering all-out physical humor (particularly as the elusive wild goat) and hilariously petulant reactions as the glamour puss Aphrodite and Xander's embittered sister.

Director Donna Steele and choreographer Cynthia Hall's staging of "Wild Goat" is fine, but it could use a bit more oomph - particularly at the end of most songs that lack satisfying "ta-dah!" button conclusions.

"Wild Goat's" production design is impressive (especially Lynn Provost's Greek costumes), but it also makes you think of another, better-constructed musical inspired by Greco-Roman antiquity: namely "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum."

Taken on its own, "Wild Goat" does make for an enjoyable evening out with the family. But when compared to other musicals, "Wild Goat" comes off like it isn't living up to its full comic potential.

"Wild Goat"

Rating: 2½ stars

Location: Steel Beam Theatre, 111 W. Main St., St. Charles

Showtimes: 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays; through June 28

Running time: About one hour and 50 minutes, including intermission

Tickets: $25; $23 students/seniors

Box office: (630) 587-8521 or SteelBeamTheatre.com

Rating: For all audiences