THEATER : OK Idea, but Not an OK Show : For its first production, the new Civic Light Opera of Brea tries ‘Oklahoma!,’ but it comes up far short, hampered by weak acting and poor sound.

BREA —  In Orange County, as anywhere else, the formation of a new theater company ought to be cause for excitement. But in recessionary times and suburban climes such theatrical ventures more often than not are cause for dismay.

Intrepid dreamers frequently set up shop with half-baked plans that fail to cohere for any number of reasons, from insufficient financing to awful taste. These dreamers--let’s call them producers--seem to think there’s a public out there hungry for home-grown talent.

Maybe they’re right. But you’d never know it from the first outing of the newly formed Civic Light Opera of Brea, which is staging a revival of “Oklahoma!” at the Curtis Theatre. The show opened over the weekend to such small houses that the audience only barely outnumbered the cast.

Worse to report, the quality of the production, for all of its good intentions and even its actual bright spots, doesn’t merit much of an audience anyway. In fact, this revival gives new meaning to the term light opera.

At various times during Friday’s performance, the production amounted to an a cappella version of “Oklahoma!” intermittently accompanied by static. And when the taped musical accompaniment was working, it sounded so scratchy you wished someone would just turn it off and let the singers wing it.

Indeed, the star of the show--Charles Machalicky, who plays the cowboy hero Curly--had to do precisely that in mid-song, to his considerable surprise. He winged it very nicely, though, with only a flicker of hesitation, thanks to a vocal gift for staying on key and enough self-possession to keep the performance going (always, it is worth noting, with the proper combination of innocence and grandeur).

But although Machalicky was able to finesse a plague of sound problems throughout the evening, he could not find a way to inject any romance whatever into Curly’s relationship with Laurey, the standoffish farm girl whom Donna Simmons portrays with about as much charm as a barn door.

The blame is hardly Machalicky’s. Simmons is so colorless in her role that you wonder why the personable, larger-than-life Curly would bother to notice Laurey, let alone find her enthralling. And that is a fatal flaw for “Oklahoma!”--a show that depends on the tug of a magnetic attraction between them.

Because their relationship fails to hold any interest, the comic subplot involving a love triangle among the man-hungry Ado Annie, the nice-guy cowboy Will Parker and the traveling Gypsy peddler Ali Hakim takes over.

As Hakim, which is the only non-singing principal role, Raun Imperial gives an animated performance full of theatrical savvy. Helen Lemmon plays Ado Annie with likable verve, and she shows a flair for comedy both as a singer and actress. Along with Machalicky, who is a stylish but not a slick performer, they are the class of the cast.

The dark subplot involving the surly farmhand Jud Fry, who has designs on Laurey, is sabotaged by another weak performance, this one from Jonathan Moffatt. He sings passably, but he seems to lack experience as an actor, skulking around the stage with a lugubrious hangdog look that he apparently mistakes for menace.

The chief attraction of “Oklahoma!,” as with any of the best Rodgers & Hammerstein musicals, is its classic score. This one includes such lush ballads as “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’ ” and “People Will Say We’re in Love” as well as the bouncy tunes such as “The Surrey With the Fringe on Top” and “Many a New Day.”

The large chorus works hard, even acrobatically at times. (The fantasy dream sequence, originally choreographed by Agnes de Mille, has been dropped, wisely, given its difficulty.) The chorus also sings with the requisite charm. Unfortunately, the second act bogs down in too much talk and too little singing.

Although production values are sketchy, the show does succeed visually. The costumes are bright and detailed and the functional set sufficiently atmospheric. But this troupe has a long way to go before it has the right to call itself a civic light opera company.

‘Oklahoma!’

D.D. Calhoun: Aunt Eller

Charles Machalicky: CurlyDonna Simmons: Laurey

Helen Lemmon: Ado Annie

Raun Imperial: Alik Hakim

Tim Kashani: Will Parker

Jonathan Moffatt: Jud Fry

Erin Campbell: Gertie Cummings

Bob Johnson: Andrew Carnes

A Civic Light Opera of Brea presentation of the musical by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. Music by Rodgers. Book and lyrics by Hammerstein. Produced by Virginia De Land. Directed and choreographed by John Vaughan. Also with Gabriel Silva, Jeff Griffith, Joshua Eklund, Laura Waggoner, Stacey McIntyre, Kimberly Bueno, Lauren Spicer, Heather Dickinson, Conrad Maag, Melodie Blodgett, Christy Carter, Mitch Gindlesperger, Donna Nelson and Mary Lou Petrausch. Musical director Mark Henson. Scenic design by Charles E. Ketter. Light and sound design by Jenson Crawford. Costumes design by Ruth Walp and Carol Young. Performances Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 3 p.m. through Nov. 24 at the Curtis Theatre, 1 Civic Center Circle, Brea. Tickets: $10 to $12. Information: (714) 990-7722.