NASHVILLE, Tenn. – It's a hard knock life indeed for some productions of Annie. Shows with animals and children can sometimes resemble schoolyard recess.

That's thankfully not the case with Circle Players' current revival of the 1977 megasmash Martin Charnin/Charles Strouse/Thomas Meehan musical. The children are adorable and most are quite talented; the dog playing Sandy is beautiful (though perhaps a little too beautiful when we first meet her). The adult cast members are mostly reliable, too.

For the two people reading this review who haven't seen the show in one of its many incarnations (including the 1982 film), here's the plot: It's December, 1933, and Annie (Molly McCluskey) is living at the New York City Municipal Orphanage where she has waited patiently for the parents who left her there 11 years ago.

After an unsuccessful attempt to escape from the orphanage and the clutches of the cruel Miss Hannigan (Kay Ayers-Sowell), she's picked to spend Christmas with the ultra-rich Oliver Warbucks (Terry McLemore). No presents for guessing the outcome, but there are plenty of sweet-natured moments and musical numbers along the way.

The actors for the most part are fairly adept singers and dancers. Thankfully, director Tim Larson has cast well among his leads and major supporting roles. McCluskey has a lovely presence and a pleasing vocal sound, making the role a lighter and less brassy figure than the memorable star turn by Andrea McCardle in the original production. Her renditions of Maybe and the show's signature song, Tomorrow, have a dream-like quality to them which is quite appropriate.

McLemore's Warbucks is the right measure of bluster and big softie, and his developing devotion for Annie is quite believable. Ayers-Sowell shows she hasn't lost her touch for comedy or belting out a tune, and Catherine Birdsong exhibits poise beyond her high school-age years as Warbucks' Gal Friday, Grace Ferrell.

There are also nice turns by Jim Manning as Miss Hannigan's ne'er-do-well brother Rooster and Sharaya Seidel as Lily, his partner in crime. The Easy Street number involving the pair and Ayers-Sowell is one of this production's highlights.

The ensemble of children do their part to make the show work, from Hard Knock Life to Fully Dressed. And while Leighla, the Westie terrier mix who plays Sandy, looks too pretty to be a stray when she meets Annie, it's hard to fault a dog who's obviously ready to love and be loved.

Larson has kept the pacing fast and firm. He and co-choreographer Kate Adams have kept the dances spirited, although there are moments when the dancing and the music played under Marney Green's otherwise capable conducting don't synchronize.

Art Designer Becky McCluskey and Larson have fashioned comic strip staging for this comic strip character, using black and white framing with bits of red here and there as a nod to Annie's favorite color. Jeanne Ackerley's costumes dovetail with that design and easily evoke the Depression Era.

Circle's production is a solid effort that it hopes to build on with an ambitious 2005 schedule that includes A Midsummer Night's Dream, Cyrano de Bergerac, The Sound of Music, Victor/Victoria and A Christmas Carol. It's community theater that tries to involve as much of the community as possible on both sides of the footlights, and that's admirable. Whether Circle Players will succeed or not only time will tell, but for now the hard knocks have been kept entertainingly away.

To See The Show…

Annie concluded its run at the Center for the Performing Arts on the Father Ryan campus on Jan. 16.