THEATER REVIEW : Well-Staged ‘Prince,’ but Without Bite

Theatreworks/USA, the respected New York company specializing in literature-based theater for young audiences, is making several Southland tour stops--including one last Saturday at Caltech’s Beckman Auditorium--with a spare, but well-staged hourlong musical adaptation of Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s “The Little Prince.”

The props are few and the set is minimal, but crisp timing, musical sophistication, imaginative staging and a polished professional adult cast make a success out of this truncated version of the classic fable about a cynical pilot and a little boy from another planet who learn that what’s important “can only be seen with the heart.”

Under the sure guidance of director-choreographer Ted Pappas, the five-member cast brings to life the Little Prince’s odyssey through space, with Jo Ellen Constine as the Prince, Eric Stapleton as the Aviator and Derek Hulse, Andrew C. Pudvah and Cyndi Logan playing multiple roles. Constine and Logan, as the vain but vulnerable Rose, are especially appealing and their duet, “Forty Sunsets,” is a poignant highlight in the top-notch score, with lyrics by Arthur Perlman, who wrote this stage adaptation, and music by Jeffrey Lunden.

The show’s relative faithfulness to the novel, however, and the substance it manages to convey, falters when the ending conveniently avoids dealing with the issue of death and grief. Conspicuously absent is the venomous snake and the part it plays in the Little Prince’s return home.

* “The Little Prince,” Norris Theatre, 27570 Crossfield Drive at Indian Peak Road, Rolling Hills Estates, Saturday 4 p.m.; Sunday, 1 and 4 p.m., $12; (310) 544-0403. Robert Moore Theatre, Orange Coast College, Costa Mesa, March 19, 2 and 4:30 p.m., $5-$13; (714) 432-5880. Several local school performances also open to general public Friday through March 22. Information: (800) 497-5007 .

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Uke It Up: Victoria Jackson, best known for her whiny, ditsy blonde persona when she was a “Saturday Night Live” regular, is yet another celebrity (and parent of young children) to test the waters in the children’s music market. Her new album, with the misspelled title of “Ukelele Lady,” from Choo Choo Records, is set to hit record store shelves this week. It’s a collection of upbeat old-time songs, most of which originated in the first half of this century, among them “Ukulele Lady,” “By the Beautiful Sea,” “Button Up Your Overcoat,” “You Are My Sunshine” and “Inchworm.”

It’s a fun selection, with terrific musicians and backup singers (uncredited on the audiocassette), and Jackson’s uke accompaniment is a kick (she’s been playing since she was a kid). Which makes it that much more regrettable that Jackson’s vocal gifts aren’t up to the task. Her one-dimensional phrasings and the light-weight, nasal little girl voice that worked for her as a comedian, make for uneasy listening here.