STAGE REVIEW : Rodgers and Hammerstein Revue Lacks Hart : Newport Theatre production is heavy on saccharine songs, but revives charm of a bygone Broadway era.

Whether you will like the revue of Rodgers and Hammerstein songs at the Newport Theatre Arts Center probably depends on your tolerance for the kind of romantically cloying sentiment best exemplified by their most familiar Broadway tunes.

You know the ones: “Some Enchanted Evening” from “South Pacific” and “Hello, Young Lovers” from “The King and I,” or, on a somewhat different note, virtually anything from the putatively inspirational musical “The Sound of Music,” which surely ranks among the sappiest shows ever to become a mega-hit.

My own taste runs to the exuberant wittiness of Rodgers and Hart, whose earlier Broadway collaborations included songs such as “Thou Swell” from “A Connecticut Yankee” and, to cite a sultry treatment of the same subject, “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” from “Pal Joey.” None of their brisk or provocative fare is offered here, unfortunately.

Nevertheless, “Some Enchanted Evening”--as this revue is titled--does have the charm of reprising a bygone Broadway era, defined in the ‘40s by the Rogers and Hammerstein shows “Oklahoma!” and “Carousel,” while occasionally recalling tunes from lesser shows such as the virtually forgotten “Allegro.”

In fact, one of the high points of the revue is Lisa Richard’s vampish delivery of “The Gentleman Is a Dope,” a mildly sardonic number from “Allegro.” The dry humor of her performance not only underscores the material but provides an antidote, brief though it is, to the saccharine tone of the evening as a whole.

Richard’s infectiously sassy rendition of “I Cain’t Say No” from “Oklahoma!” also has a momentary tonic effect on the studied mood of George Quick’s staging, if not on the show’s overly deliberate conceit that we are being entertained on the terrace of some wealthy estate by a dreamy gentleman with a grand piano.

Another bright number is a lightly satirical version of “I Enjoy Being a Girl” from “Flower Drum Song.” As performed by Richard, Jennifer Anne Sauder and Amberly-Susann Williams in prim turn-of-the-century lingerie, the song conveys a comic sauciness ever so slightly at odds with the intended decorum.

For an amateur presentation, the talent in the house is top-notch. Both Richard and Sauder are singers with musical polish. Williams, who is a student at Newport Harbor High School, delivers well beyond her years. And both Mark Wickham and Chris D. Thomas acquit themselves nicely. Terence Alaric gives solid support at the piano.

Production values are also first-rate, with the notable exception of the special effects: a fog machine that puffs like the old Camel sign in Manhattan’s Times Square and paper confetti that doesn’t flutter so much as sink through the air. The show would be better served by eliminating both.

What can’t be fixed, however, is the disenchanting impression that Rodgers’ and Hammerstein’s greatest hits have turned out to be as dated as a surrey with the fringe on top. They must be taken in smaller doses than this gushy, one-dimensional retrospective of 31 songs and medleys.

‘Some Enchanted Evening’

A Newport Theatre Arts Center presentation. Music by Richard Rodgers. Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. Concept by Jeffrey B. Moss. Directed by George Quick. With Terence Alaric, Lisa Richard, Jennifer Anne Sauder, Chris D. Thomas, Mark Wickham and Amberly-Susann Williams. Musical direction by Quick. Special musical arrangements by Alaric. Choreography by Sue Errickson. Set and lighting design by Robert L. Smith. Costume design by Dyke Ouderkirk. Continues through July 12 at Newport Theatre Arts Center, 2501 Cliff Drive, Newport Beach. Performances Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m.; Sunday at 2:30 p.m. $15. (714) 631-0288.