‘Annie’ Still Managing to Charm Kids

“Annie”--with its relentless optimism, sunny songs, cute little girl and adorable little mutt--is just a bit too precious for most adults. It can turn even the most indulgent among us into the Wicked Witch of the West, muttering, “I’ll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too!”

But there’s no arguing with success, and there’s no arguing with the gleam in children’s eyes. Their enchantment goes a long way toward explaining why this is one of the most popular musicals ever.

Endlessly revived, this show, based on the “Little Orphan Annie” comic strip, is now touring the country in a 20th-anniversary production following a Broadway run. It plays this week at Long Beach’s Terrace Theater and next week at the Orange County Performing Arts Center with its pint-sized New York star, Brittny Kissinger, as Annie and Sally Struthers as Miss Hannigan, the buffoonish villainess who runs the orphanage where Annie lives.

Restaged by original director and lyric writer Martin Charnin, this production opened on Broadway last year to grumbling reviews. Critics complained that the show was lackluster, and it remains so. After a first half that delivers a fair number of laughs--and even manages to tug at the heartstrings a couple of times--the second act loses all energy.

However, the touring version answers one of the critics’ other complaints by delivering the comically adept Struthers instead of the reportedly uninspired Nell Carter.

Struthers, who was by far the best thing about the “Grease!” revival tour a few years back, is a hoot here as a lonely, rotten-tempered booze hound who mercilessly torments her small charges--and is mercilessly tormented in return. She unites young and old in titters as she clutches her throbbing, hung-over head after she has foolishly blown full-blast into the coach’s whistle around her neck, or as alternate zones of her body go into spasm upon learning that wealthy Oliver Warbucks wants to adopt her Lilliputian nemesis.

Kissinger, who ended up in the title role after the original actress was axed, is a cutie, but her singing voice has been so carefully developed into a vibratoless pop belt that all character has been erased from it, and her performance is entirely mechanical.

This “Annie” is as simultaneously raggedy and endearing as its title character, but at its final curtain at Tuesday’s opening, the kids in the house--about half the audience--let out cheers. Like all “Annies,” this one appears adult-proof.

* “Annie,” Long Beach Terrace Theater, 300 E. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach. Tonight-Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 7:30 p.m.; matinees Saturday-Sunday, 2 p.m. Ends Sunday. $15.50-$46. Also: Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. Tuesday-May 2, 8 p.m.; May 3, 6 p.m.; matinees May 2, 2 p.m., May 3, 1 p.m. Ends May 3. $21-$52.50. (213) 365-3500 for both locations. Running time: 2 hours, 36 minutes.