CHILDREN’S THEATER REVIEW : A Fun, Smooth Ride Down the Yellow Brick Road : ‘Wizard of Oz’ is long but has plenty of action and good characterizations from young actors. Teewinkle the Tale Teller is a charming addition.

Take a road trip with kids and you’ll quickly learn the three cardinal rules of mobile parenting: (1) plan plenty of divertissements, (2) vary the scene and (3) keep it short.

The folks at the Orange County Children’s Theatre have taken two of these lessons to heart in their production of “The Wizard of Oz.” Directed by Diane Christensen, the musical continues through Sunday at the Westminster Cultural Arts Center.

Working from Claude Townley’s adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s tale, Christensen and her 8- to 18-year-old cast take us on a jaunt down the Yellow Brick Road that covers Rules 1 and 2 admirably but takes a few liberties with No. 3.

In its attempt to involve young audiences, this “Oz” leaves little out and actually adds characters. The result is a 2 1/2-hour journey that well may stretch the endurance of some but is an enjoyable outing for those blessed with a reasonable attention span.

Most of the running time is tacked on by a new central character named Teewinkle the Tale Teller, a theatrical tour guide whose purpose seems to be to ensure that youngsters don’t fall by the wayside during the story’s twists and turns and, secondarily, to entertain audiences in the lags during set changes. Resplendent in a Minnie Pearl ensemble of floppy hat and multiple petticoats, Teewinkle (Andrea Hough) pops up at odd moments to review the goings-on (be ready for those pop quizzes) and, on at least one occasion, to pull viewers into the action.

Hough’s performance is engaging enough to make the extra time worth it. Her eyes sparkling behind oversized red spectacles, she has an impish, teasing quality that keeps youngsters eager to learn what new secrets will be revealed as the story unfolds.

As Christensen writes in her program notes, this version of Baum’s 92-year-old tale is “taken mostly from the book with a pinch of the movie thrown in for good measure.” Dorothy (and her little dog, Toto) travel by tornado from Kansas to the mysterious land of Oz, where she unintentionally dusts off the wicked Witch of the East and earns the adoration of the Munchkins and a pair of nifty silver (yes, silver) slippers as well as the benevolence of the good, if slightly daffy, Witch of the North.

After hooking up with her traveling companions the Lion, the Scarecrow and the Tin Man, Dorothy sets off for the Emerald City in search of a one-way ticket back to Kansas. After overcoming some nasty stumbling blocks set up by the foul-tempered Witch of the West and the broken promises of the Great Wizard himself, Dorothy and company discover that the prizes they sought were within them all the time.

Ten-year-old Corinne Hart is a plucky Dorothy with a better-than-average singing voice that manages to weather the sound system’s eccentricities. Orange County Children’s Theatre veteran Luis Reyes, 17, is an affable and delightfully rubbery Scarecrow. Ian Jensen, 15, and Michael Hittesdorf, 16, contrast each other pleasantly as the Tin Man and Lion, with Jensen providing much of the straight man work to Hittesdorf’s comic extravagances.

Seventeen-year-old Laura Davis plays the Witch of the North with goofy abandon. Sixteen-year-old Amy Whitacre, sporting nasty black talons and an even blacker attitude, provides one of the production’s strongest supports as the Witch of the West (pre-adolescent boys will admire her “gross-out” skills).

Smaller roles are not so finely tuned in the script or in the production, and crowd scenes, particularly those with the Munchkins, had an unfocused look on opening night. Technical snafus, including tardy light cues and the aforementioned rustic sound system, also made for the occasional pothole. But Curtis Jerome’s costumes, especially the witches’ ensembles, were surprisingly polished for an amateur production.

‘The Wizard Of Oz’

An Orange County Children’s Theatre production, adapted by Claude Townley from L. Frank Baum’s story, directed by Diane Christensen. Costumes by Curtis Jerome. Lights by Carlone Herman. Stage manager: Gwen Boyer. With Corinne Hart, Aimee Waddle, Luis Reyes, Ian Jensen, Michael Hittesdorf, Andrea Hough, Russ Ruffino, Laura Davis and Amy Whitacre. Continues Friday at 2 and 7:30 p.m., Saturday at 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. at the Westminster Cultural Arts Center, 7571 Westminster Blvd., Westminster. $5 to $7. (714) 962-8344.