‘Mister Roberts’ is a solid drama that needs more waves

Though the cast at the New Repertory Theater is capable enough, “Mister Roberts’’ comes across as a workmanlike comedy-drama that is sometimes trenchant but at other times simply poky, especially in the first act.

What resonates most strongly in the New Rep production of “Mister Roberts,’’ the debut by new artistic director Kate Warner, are the dramatic elements. To contemporary audiences schooled on “M*A*S*H’’ and “Catch-22,’’ there is something compellingly counterintuitive in the notion of raising hell so you can get into a war zone.

But that is the goal of Lieutenant Doug Roberts (Thomas Piper), stuck aboard the deliciously named USS Reluctant, a Navy cargo ship. Roberts and the crew of the Reluctant spend their days, in Roberts’s words, moving “from tedium to apathy and back again, with an occasional side trip to monotony.’’

Languishing far from the action in the South Pacific during World War II, Roberts is desperately trying to get himself reassigned to a naval destroyer before the war ends. To do so, however, he’ll have to win his own private war with the Captain (Paul D. Farwell), the Reluctant’s commanding officer. A petty tyrant in the tradition of Bligh and Queeg, the Captain is concerned with two things and two things only: his image and the potted plant outside his cabin. The morale of his men matters not a whit to him.

Keeping Roberts company are Doc (Owen Doyle), the medical officer, and the feckless and womanizing Ensign Pulver (Jonathan Popp). A classic case of a legend in his own mind, Pulver spends his days plotting grandiose pranks against the Captain that he can never summon the courage to carry out. The crew reveres Roberts, at least up to the point when he begins truckling to the Captain. Unbeknownst to them, Roberts has struck a bargain on their behalf, promising to toe the line (and stop sending letters to Navy brass requesting reassignment) if the Captain grants the crew shore leave.

Warner apparently wanted to begin her tenure at New Rep with an accessible, familiar, and crowd-pleasing work. (She’ll challenge her audience with the theater’s next offering, David Mamet’s “Speed-the-Plow’’). But despite her desire to make her cast into a plausible Navy unit, the actors haven’t quite jelled yet into a tight and forceful ensemble. Yes, part of the message of “Mister Roberts’’ is that boredom was the most pernicious enemy many servicemen faced in World War II (it wasn’t always “Saving Private Ryan’’-style heroics), but at times the stage feels underpopulated and underenergized. There are too many moments in “Mister Roberts’’ that feel static, devoid of punch.

Some of this is the fault of the play, but not all. For instance, during a climactic showdown when Roberts warns the Captain that the men are “breakable,’’ the emotional payoff is diluted when Farwell speaks right over Piper. Cast members also confront an unexpected challenge from the set, a two-level metal scaffold that is visually imposing but that clanks distractingly whenever an actor walks across it.

Still, the actors bring some individual strengths to their portrayals. As Mister Roberts, Piper conveys both the collegial manner that wins him the affection of the crew and the brooding inwardness that sets him apart from them. (And unlike Fonda, who was 50 when the film version of “Mister Roberts’’ was made, Piper is young enough that it doesn’t seem absurd when a reference is made to him dropping out of medical school to join the Navy). Farwell is a suitably choleric Captain, while Popp, who bears a slight resemblance to Lemmon, persuades us of Pulver’s cravenness and his ultimate resolve.

Perhaps the most memorable appearance of the evening, however, is that of a four-month old goat who materializes midway through the play. W.C. Fields, warning actors about being upstaged, famously cautioned against working with kids or dogs. To this, we might add: Or goats.

Don Aucoin can be reached at aucoin@globe.com.