John Gaston, Paul Panico, Robert Weibezahl One of the main differences between pop music and Broadway show tunes is that anyone can sing a pop song. Not so Broadway tunes. Ever since Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma” in 1943, show tunes have been chiefly character-driven. If you don’t fit the character, you can’t sing the song.

As a result, classic tunes such as “I Feel Pretty” from Leonard Bernstein’s “West Side Story” can only be sung by a young girl, while other songs are also restricted due to gender, age or race.

Three local stage actors decided that these weren’t good enough reasons to prevent their access to the best works of Broadway songwriters, so they decided to do something about it. The result is the revue titled “Too Old, Too White, Too Male,” which was presented last week in a free concert at the United Methodist Church of Thousand Oaks.

It was Paul Panico’s idea to stage the revue. A veteran of Conejo Players, the Actors’ Repertory of Simi Valley and the Ventura County Gilbert and Sullivan Repertoire Company, Panico recruited two fellow actors, John Gaston and Robert Weibezahl, and the three of them selected an eclectic mix of Broadway tunes that they would never be able to perform in the context of the shows.

Most of the 19 songs they chose come from familiar musicals, but many are not the obvious choices one might expect. For example, Weibezahl soloed on “Something’s Coming” from “West Side Story,” a show that has probably five or six songs that are better known. As sung by Tony, the young ex-leader of the Jets gang, the song proves that you don’t have to be an idealistic teenager to sing it, and Weibezahl gives it the aspect of psychic urgency it needs.

Weibezahl is one of Ventura County’s most versatile actors, able to play heroes and heavies with equal credibility. He’s portrayed everyone from the loathsome Judge Turpin in “Sweeney Todd” to the loyal pirate Samuel in “The Pirates of Penzance.”

The highlight of Paul Panico’s solos was George and Ira Gershwin’s “It Ain’t Necessarily So,” the Bible-debunking song from “Porgy and Bess,” sung by the smarmy dope peddler Sportin’ Life.

John Gaston has one of the best voices not just in Ventura County, but in all of Southern California. One of the songs he selected is the soaring “Make Them Hear You” from Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty’s “Ragtime,” which is sung by the doomed African American vigilante, Coalhouse Walker Jr. Gaston also sang the title song from Burt Bacharach’s “Promises, Promises” and “You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught,” the antiracism anthem from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “South Pacific.”

Stephen Sondheim was well-represented in the revue with seven songs, ranging from the well-known—“Broadway Baby” from “Follies”—to the obscure— “I Remember” from the rarely seen television special “Evening Primrose.”

The three sang together on several ensemble numbers: the adamant “Don’t Rain on My Parade” by Bob Merrill and Jule Styne from “Funny Girl,” “You Could Drive a Person Crazy” from Sondheim’s “Company” and a marvelously funny “Gee, Officer Krupke” from “West Side Story.”

The trio was accompanied by a small but effective four-piece band led by music director Susan Treworgy.

“Too Old, Too White, Too Male” serves two purposes: It displays the talents and versatility of its three remarkable stars, and it reminds us of the depth of quality and enduring mastery of Broadway shows through the years.

In the program, the cast members thank the usual parties— family, friends and staff—and ultimately thank “every director who ever thought we were wrong for the part.”