THE OLD JAMMIES STILL FIT : Some Parts Are a Little Worn, But Young Teens Should Get Into Fullerton Children’s Rep’s ‘Pajama Game’

You try to be a good kid; do the job, toe the line. But when raise time comes around, they stiff you. Sound familiar?

“The Pajama Game,” the Richard Adler-Jerry Rose musical tale of an Iowa pajama factory tied in knots over a few pennies per hour, is a sugarcoated but timely lesson in the art of compromise in tough times that should strike a chord with any adult who has angled for a raise or any kid who has bucked for a bigger allowance.

Presented by the Fullerton Children’s Repertory Theatre, “Pajama Game” continues Friday and Saturday through Feb. 8 at the Fullerton High School theater.

“Pajama Game,” Set in the 1950s, unfolds in Cedar Rapids’ Sleep Tite pajama works, where union employees and management are butting heads over a 7 1/2-cent pay hike.

Sid, the new supervisor, sympathizes with the workers, but he’s caught between the two warring factions, a position that only worsens when he finds himself falling in love with Babe, the head of the union’s grievance committee.

The romance and the friction wax and wane, giving rise to some nifty song and dance numbers (including such familiar tunes as “Hernando’s Hideaway” and “Steam Heat”) and some strictly G-rated love scenes.

Although it won’t hold the very young, this “Pajama Game”--with its cast of young teens and preteens--will appeal to an audience segment sometimes overlooked in children’s theater: the early adolescent who has outgrown “Winnie the Pooh” but is not quite ready for, say, David Mamet.

Sure, most of the chief roles are caricatures and the conflict is too readily resolved (we are talking musical-comedy, after all), but the story gives at least a passing nod to the realities of the working world and the struggles therein.

Major roles in FCRT’s “Pajama Game” are double-cast. At last Friday’s opening night performance, 13-year-old Sean Harris was the undeniable crowd pleaser as Vernon Hines, Sleep Tite’s time management expert (“I’ve got my stopwatch on you girls!”) and resident Romeo.

Aside from fretting over missed deadlines, it’s never quite clear what old “Hinesie” does at Sleep Tite, but it’s a heck of a lot of fun watching him work.

Harris has a wonderfully frantic style that may spark memories of Don Knotts’ neurotic deputy on TV’s “The Andy Griffith Show.” Small, wiry and blessed with a shock of copper hair and a pair of rather generous ears, Harris is a surprisingly accomplished physical comic and a pretty fair hoofer.

His first-act duet, “I’ll Never Be Jealous Again,” with secretary Mabel (Emily Keeler, 13) and his pajama modeling scene in the show’s second half are worth the ticket price all on their own.

The part of Sid, however, played Friday by 13-year-old Ben Makino, offers little or no chance for laughs. The tall and handsome Makino is more than earnest but weak on his vocal numbers.

Then again, who wouldn’t have a hard time measuring up to Babe, a straight-shooter whose heart belongs to Sleep-Tite and the union, but not necessarily in that order? Thirteen-year-old Emily Cedillo handles the part with easy confidence, adding power to her duets with Makino and to the ensemble tunes “I’m Not at All in Love” and “Seven and a Half Cents.”

Like Babe, sets and costumes for “Pajama Game” are simple but effective and remarkable resourceful. Sewing machines in the factory scenes appear to be largely from plastic soap bottles dunked in matte black paint. Dancers in the murky Hernando’s Hideaway nightclub create their own mystique by holding small flashlights under their chins.

FCRT, now in its ninth year, is a repertory company of about 50 north Orange County actors ages 10 to 13. Every January and July, children participate in a fully staged Broadway musical (past shows include “Annie,” “The Music Man,” and “Oliver.”)

When members complete the eighth grade, they “graduate” into the company’s tech crew, where they carry out a variety of behind-the-scenes jobs, from light board operation to costume design (Bronwen Shirk did the honors here) to performing in the company’s small musical ensemble.

FCRT members have toured Denmark and Sweden, performed in the International Youth Musical Festival in Shizuoka, Japan, and the French Musicale in Annecy, and are planning a tour of New Zealand and Australia this summer.

What: “The Pajama Game” by the Fullerton Children’s Repertory Theatre.

When: Fridays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays at 1:30 and 7:30 p.m. through Feb. 8.

Where: Fullerton High School Theatre, Chapman Avenue at Lemon Street, Fullerton.

Whereabouts: Take the Riverside (91) Freeway to Lemon Street exit, and turn right. The theater parking lot is behind Plummer Auditorium.

Wherewithal: All seats are $5.

Where to call: (714) 671-1084.