‘Little Red Riding Hood’ Musical Intelligent, Funny but Too Sparse

The hungry Wolf is no match for a quick-thinking Little Red Riding Hood in Santa Monica Playhouse’s musical version of the tale.

This Little Red (Heather Ross on Saturdays, Ashley Griffin Dworman on Sundays) not only persuades the Wolf (Les Borsay) to wait for Grandma’s good cooking, she enlists him to come along to Grandma’s house as her protector.

A pair of skunks (Aaron Burns and Graham Silbert) and two owls (Leah Mondry and Celeste Akiki) join the entourage too, after Little Red refuses to allow the Wolf to use them as appetizers.

Written by Evelyn Rudie, the show is at its best when having fun with words and the way people use them. One running joke is about how contradictory well-meaning advice can be: Hurry--but take your time to go carefully; don’t talk to strangers--but ask for help if you get lost, says Mom (director Cheryl Jennings). “You can’t tell a book by its cover,” says Little Red in sizing up the Wolf--but “the clothes make the man,” she decides, upon assessing the Wolf’s alpine shorts and jacket ensemble.

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The show also has fun with the tale’s “What big eyes you have” routine. At a cottage labeled “Heritage Site--Hansel & Gretel Slept Here,” the Wolf, disguised as Hansel, responds to Little Red’s “What big hands you have” with “The better to greet you with, my dear.” When he pretends to be Snow White, the Wolf answers the observation “What big cheeks you have” with “The better to cheer you with, my dear.” And so on.

What isn’t as smoothly done as in other of the playhouse’s children’s shows are the musical elements. Rudie and M. Wrather, who co-wrote the playful lyrics with messages about being special and finding friends, also did the show’s forgettable music, including some tired, hip-hop-style solos. The matching choreography (uncredited) is in the same vein, and it, too, is an awkward fit in the overall production design, which, albeit modest, has a fairy-tale look, emphasized in Ashley Hayes’ colorful costume design.

The attractive, intimate theater is always a cozy setting, too, but this minimally designed show could use a tree or two to suggest the surrounding forest.

* “Little Red Riding Hood,” Santa Monica Playhouse, 1211 4th St., Santa Monica. Saturdays and Sundays, 1 and 3 p.m. $8. (310) 394-9779, Ext. 1.