Sweet ‘Dream’ on a Bigger Scale

Max’s Playhouse and the theater department at Cal State Northridge have joined forces to present a revised and expanded version of Jim Houle’s musical “Dream Street.”

A strong offering in its original form, the musical, about a girl in a wheelchair who finds herself on an Oz-like adventure through a wacky world where everyone has wheels, has lost a little of its touching intimacy, but remains an above-average youth theater experience.

The show’s greatest strengths are intact: the full sweet vocals and expressiveness of lead actor Lucy Hagan and Houle’s delightful cartoon-like sets and costumes, which are added to and refined here.

Robert Mersola draws laughs as the outrageously campy Ragg Top Convertible and R.J. Wagner as new truck Buck and Steven Robert Ross as subcompact Sparky are standouts. Anamarie Garcia again directs with a comic touch; the girl group trio, the Cabettes, aren’t as dynamic as they should be, but the larger cast adds punch to composer-lyricist Terry Hastings’ catchy ensemble numbers and to Randy Haege’s imaginative choreography. “Dream Street,” Cal State Northridge, Campus Theatre, 18111 Nordhoff St., Northridge, today and Sunday at 2 p.m., $3-$5; (818) 885-3093.