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To children it was a popular comic strip, but to adults Li’l Abner was cutting-edge political satire.

In 1956, “Li’l Abner” achieved a long run on Broadway playing 693 performances. Musical Theatre Guild is celebrating the musical comedy/political satire’s 50th anniversary with a series of three productions in Southern California. One of the stops for the traveling company is on Monday at Glendale’s Alex Theatre.

The stage musical, which was made into a film in 1959, is based on the hillbilly characters who inhabit the city of Dogpatch from Al Capp’s comic strip, which enjoyed a 43-year run that started in 1934. In this version, the U.S. government wants to use the city as a nuclear testing site and the townsfolk must find a reason to spare the city from demise.

Central characters are the naïve Abner Yokum and beautiful Daisy Mae Scragg. Abner is constantly staying just out of reach of Daisy Mae, who’s ready to settle down and start a family.

The production was never revived on Broadway, said Kevin McMahon, a board member with the theater company, but it did play at a small theater in Connecticut, and again in the 1980s with football great Joe Namath cast as Abner.

Musical Theatre Guild specializes in productions such as this, which were popular in their day but are not often produced. The theater gives actors only three days of rehearsal before taking it on stage with a live orchestra, he said. It’s a staged reading, with actors carrying their scripts.

“Li’l Abner” is a crowd pleaser, not only for its beloved characters but for the music, McMahon said.

“The score is fantastic,” he said. “Johnny Mercer wrote the lyrics to the songs. The live orchestra has about 12 musicians. We always hire the best people in town and Mondays are usually their day off, so we get them, and they are happy to be able to play. It’s a union contract for them.”

And the cartoon characters are remembered by many who read the comic strip, he added.

“So this is a chance to see the characters come to life,” he said.

Damon Kirsche, of Valley Village, will play Abner. While it’s his first time in the role, Kirsche said he can pull from his youth spent in a small town. He grew up on an organic farm in Windsor, N.D.

“The population numbered 33 when I lived there but there’s only 11 people there today,” he said.

Kirsche was trained at Juilliard and said he will draw from his past musical theater experiences, including work at the Falcon Theatre in Burbank, to breathe life into Abner.

“He is simple and innocent and I think, at heart, what Abner most wants is the simple pleasures of life ? going fishing with his friends,” he said.

“He has no concept of what a job or what employment is. One of the songs in the show is called ‘This Thing Called Employment.’ It shows Johnny Mercer at some of his genius best.”

Kirsche has the right sensibility to play Abner, McMahon said. “Abner is a brawny guy like Kirsche, but he’s a little slow, while Kirsche is very intelligent,” he said. “Kirsche is actually our webmaster, but he will handle this character really well.”

Musical theater veteran and comedian Melissa Fahn, of Encino, will also do justice to Daisy Mae, McMahon said.

“She was in the original cast of ‘Wicked’ on Broadway in New York two seasons ago,” he said.

“She stayed with the company for a year. She was in the ensemble and understudied the lead role of Glinda. I know her to be a great comic actress and terrific singer, too.”

Fahn’s job will be to take Daisy Mae from the comics page and create a living, breathing person.

She will wear a blond wig and use a Southern accent to try to make this character real, she said. “There is fine line to playing this character,” she said.

“You don’t want too become too cartoonish. She has to be real enough to connect with the audience. It will be interesting to see how she develops even more than what I’ve been able to create at home.”

The actors have worked together before in Musical Theatre Guild shows and are eager to play the romantic leads, they said. “His voice is glorious and he’s such a professional,” Fahn said about Kirsche.

“And he’s not bad to look at too. It’s easy to play opposite him in a romantic lead role.”

“She’s absolutely lovely,” Kirsche said about his co-star. “She does a lot of voice-over work in the animation industry, so she has a wonderful background and lands this role perfectly.”

FYI

WHAT: Musical Theatre Guild’s production of “Li’l Abner” with book by Norman Panama and Melvin Frank and music by Gene de Paul and lyrics by Johnny Mercer

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Monday

WHERE: Alex Theatre, 216 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale

TICKETS: $25 to $35