Billy Bishop Goes to War: this Plosive Production is a pretty good trip

 Photo: Jana Chytlova.  Chris Ralph as Billy Bishop 

This production of John Gray’s musical about World War One flying ace Billy Bishop is enjoyable if flawed.

Chris Ralph plays Bishop, who was born in Owen Sound, Ont., with gusto, empathy and humour. He captures both the times and the man including the innocence with which young recruits went off to that war and Bishop’s basic goodness as well as his penchant for running afoul of rules.

Over the course of Gray’s highly likeable script, which blends storytelling with acting and song, we follow the in-the-sky and on-the-ground adventures of the charming Billy. The former include vivid stories of dogfights with skilled German pilots while the latter spotlight some very funny incidents involving upper-crust Brits and dim-witted military officers to whom Bishop reports. Ralph plays these various characters, some 18 in all, convincingly and economically.

However, he also plays much of it too loudly. Less shouting (was the loud voice meant to convey Bishop’s youthful enthusiasm?) would have made for a more textured and, for the audience, less-wearying performance.

Turning down the volume would also have lessened the awkward contrast between Ralph and James Caswell, his much quieter pianist, co-vocalist and occasional narrator.

One other issue: both Ralph and Caswell have pleasant but limited singing voices. Their upper registers are shaky, and when they shoot for the high notes the results are less than stellar.

Bottom line: This Billy Bishop hits some air pockets but overall it’s a pretty good trip.

It plays at The Gladstone and is directed by Teri Loretto-Valentik