‘Pirate’ is a delightful treat for kids

Paliku Theatre’s colorful staging of "How I Became a Pirate" is kid-friendly entertainment despite gratuitous jokes about the "poop deck," but it also contains G-rated cultural references specifically for the adults in the audience.

Kids will be enchanted by the colorful pirates. Jeremy Jacob (portrayed by Liam deClive-Lowe) is building a sand castle and playing with action figures when he encounters them. They invite him to join the crew, and the adventure begins. Jeremy learns that pirates don’t have to do homework or change their infant sibling’s diapers.

Best of all, they don’t brush their teeth. They don’t floss. They like having green teeth.

Jeremy also learns that pirates don’t have someone to read to them at bedtime or tuck them in before they go to sleep.

When the pirates give Jeremy the chance to go home in time for soccer practice, he seems ready to go.

R. Andrew Doan gives a delightfully broad yet nuanced performance as Capt. Braid Beard, the blustering yet kindhearted pirate captain. Doan also designed the set; various pieces of pirate ship come together from three directions to become a marvelous vessel.

Doan commands a talented crew. Phillip Krystoff (Pierre) wields a stereotypical French accent with excellent results in the role of the ship’s gourmet cook. A comic sketch about the confusion caused when Pierre pronounces "thinking" as "sinking" is nicely delivered.

Bryce-William Irvine (Sharktooth) earns applause in one of the biggest musical numbers. The fearsome pirate confesses to Jeremy that he is actually a member of the high-IQ club Mensa and "a sensitive dude." DeClive-Lowe likewise brings a clear voice and convincing acting to his most memorable musical number, "Soccer by the Rules."

Lewis Char (Swill) is a strong comic presence as a timid pirate who gets blamed for everything but has more book knowledge than the others. London Stanton (Scurvy Dog) and Wesley Lambert (Max) are eye-catching contrasts — Stanton playing a wild man with canine tendencies, Lambert playing a guy who doesn’t know the macaw on his shoulder is a stuffed toy.

In a deviation from the original story, the other member of the crew, Seymour Braunschwagger, is played by Kai‘a Aguirre as a woman named Brassy Braunschwagger.