OBSESSED WITH BEAR : POOH BEWITCHED HIM TO ‘BOTHER!’

“Bother!” No one says it quite like Winnie-the-Pooh--with that mixture of mild annoyance and grand complacency. You know by the tone there will be a solution to the problem, whatever it is. And if not, it’ll only be a matter of minutes before it’s forgotten, in favor of something new and more absorbing and probably more pleasant.

Pooh Bear is nothing if not capable of the greatest equanimity, no doubt brought on by those daily doses of honey. And sad is the youngster who has traversed childhood without a gambol through the woods of the mind with Piglet and Owl and Tigger and Eeyore and Rabbit and the Heffalump and Kanga and Baby Roo and their friends and relations (including Late and Early).

And Christopher Robin, too.

One such deprived child was Peter Dennis, who discovered Pooh at the advanced age of 36, poor dear, and hasn’t gotten over him since. Late in life--or early in childhood, since Dennis gives every indication of having the sweeping enthusiasms of a spirited 3-year-old--he became so obsessed with the Bear of Very Little Brain and his cohorts that he’s exorcised the fascination with a one-man show called “Bother!”

Dennis (the Voice of Pooh Bear) first exposed Los Angeles to its contagion last December at the Lee Strasberg Creative Center. He has now brought it back to the Coronet in living color and endearingly ignominious detail.

Let’s say that “Bother!” is a show for the already-acquainted or, at least, that a nodding relationship with A. A. Milne’s disarmingly slow-witted creatures adds enjoyment and juice to Dennis’ singular ability to portray them.

He zeroes in uncannily--and with great bonhomie, to use a phrase that comes up--on a single, prominent trait (Piglet’s skittish grunts, Rabbit’s tail, Owl’s round eyes, Eeyore’s slack-jawed melancholia) and evokes the entire character. Anyone who’s read Milne’s celebrated books can quickly fill in the blanks. Anyone who hasn’t will make a run to read them.

This is not to say that the 90-minute program is without any drawbacks. The style of the stories is supremely, serenely English, which makes for a certain unaccustomed detachment. The balance and deliberation with which each story is told ultimately also achieves a certain sameness. But, in shirt-sleeves and bow tie, Dennis, at 53, is an irresistible enthusiast, a divinely arrested child with a twinkle in his eye and youth nobly pounding in his heart. Once we put our internal clocks on British time--and tune them down another notch or two to Childhood time--there is nothing but 90 minutes of reawakened pleasure here, deliciously larded with wit.

The program varies from performance to performance, depending partly on Dennis’ mood and partly on audience requests (which Dennis actively seeks out). Aside from the stories culled from the collected works, there are also the poems that Dennis delivers with a superb, sagacious verve.

Jeremy Railton has provided a comfortably appointed simple study-set, aglow with Drew Barnett’s warm lighting. Nothing too precious or too plain--just a cozy setting for our laid-back storyteller to take us on his measured flights of fancy.

Performances at 366 N. La Cienega Blvd. run Tuesdays through Fridays, 8:30 p.m.; Saturdays, 5 and 8:30 p.m.; Sundays, 3 and 7 p.m., indefinitely. Tickets: $16-$18, with Sunday matinees $10 for the under 16 (213) 659-6415 or 480-3232.