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Scott Terrell

MOUNT VERNON — Well, they’ve read the book, and the students of Mount Vernon High School can tell you: “Moby Dick! The Musical” isn’t exactly Herman Melville.

It‘s more like what Herman Melville might have written during a whoop-it-up night of drinking in a Nantucket tavern.

Take one headmistress who looks suspiciously like a man (because she is), a troupe of lusty Catholic girls in short skirts, some random cleaning supplies and goofy music, and you’ve got the cult classic “Moby Dick! The Musical,” which will be presented by the Mount Vernon High School Drama Department on April 24-26 at the high school.

Yes, once again, Mount Vernon High students have ditched the traditional musical in favor of something, well, a little off-beat.

“We want musicals that will draw in the crowd — ridiculous ones,” said Brydie Landreth, 18, who plays Ishmael in this “musical within a musical” production.

There’s nothing P.C. about this production, but Landreth said it’s not as bad as it could be. This is the censored, Americanized version of the British cult comedy that’s too racy for a high school production, with plenty of innuendoes and double-entendre involving primarily the second word of the musical’s title.

Even censored, the musical retains much of its wit and saucy humor, and includes plenty of fun and catchy music, said Paul Zickler, Drama Department director.

“It’s deceptively goofy,” Zickler said. “It looks like a thrown-together, amateur production, but it’s a really detailed production with a lot of choreography and a tension between the goofball comedy and elements of drama.”

Seems that crowds didn’t much appreciate this musical when it opened to the public in 1992 at the Piccadilly Theatre in Westminster, London, after enjoying modest success as “Moby Dick: A Whale of a Tale” at Oxford University’s Old Fire Station Theatre. It opened to scathing reviews and then quickly closed.

Since then it’s been popular with regional and university theater groups and has become somewhat of a cult classic for its zippy music and campy storyline that goes like this:

St. Godley’s Academy for Young Ladies, a Catholic school, is in a bind. It’s about to go bankrupt, until its plucky (and scantily clad) students come up with an ingenious idea to raise money by producing an epic musical.

Under the tutelage of their headmistress (always played by a man), the students gather up anything they can find and set about to present a “whale of a tale” and save the school.

Standing on the stage of the high school auditorium during rehearsals last week, Steven Marrinier, 17, tugged on the ends of the long, blonde wig on his head and danced around in the green dress he plans to wear to play the part of the school’s steadfast headmistress — and Ahab, the stern, evil-hearted sea captain of Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick.”

“In the end,” Marrinier said with a thoughtful gaze, “I’m a man playing a woman playing a man. Hmmm.”

But he looked forward to the challenge, and the chance to play Ahab. Despite the comedy involved, Marrinier said parts of the play can be surprisingly — and suddenly — dramatic, proving a challenge for his acting and singing abilities.

“It’s hard transitioning, going from extremely serious to goofy,” he said.

And although many of the 19-member cast have plenty of singing experience, the music, with its unusual notes and harmonies, has been a challenge, said Megan Lizama, the school’s choir teacher and music director for the show.

“There’s a lot of songs with chorus parts in them,” Lizama said. “It’s been a challenge for the kids to learn that much music in a short time.”

But cast members say the songs are enjoyable; the lyrics are fun, so they haven’t minded the extra work.

“It’s music that you can listen to the soundtrack over and over and not get tired of it,” said Emma Lynn, 17, who plays Starbuck. “I’m still not.”

• Beverly Crichfield can be reached at 360-416-2135 or .

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Want to go?

* What: “Moby Dick! The Musical,” by Robert Longden and music and lyrics by Longden and Hereward Kaye.

* When: 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, April 24-26.

* Where: Mount Vernon High School auditorium, 314 N. 9th St., Mount Vernon.

* Cost: $10 adults, $8 students and seniors. Reservations can be made by calling 360-428-6104, ext. 2022.