Huge cast, a Fagin with heart in terrific 'Oliver!'

The Walnut Street Theatre has engineered many firsts in its 200 years, and here's the latest: For only the first time in its modern history of producing shows, which spans 27 years, the Walnut is presenting a show it has produced before.

That's Oliver!, adapted from the story by Charles Dickens about the waif Oliver Twist and his life in a squalid troop of kids controlled by the crook Fagin, who sends them out to pick London's pockets. Oliver! was only the second show the newly formed Walnut production company staged in 1983 and the first musical.

It's back in a terrific new production, a sheer delight. This one has the largest cast the Walnut has assembled to date: an excellent orchestra of 13, and 71 actors in total. The actors include two teams of 20 children, who rotate appearances, leaving 51 actors on stage for each performance. There are Pennsylvania hamlets with about as many residents.

With the minor exception of a few seconds' timing lapse between the final scenes that dented Wednesday's opening-night suspense, Mark Clements' production - he also directed one of the first new stagings of Les Miz, at the Walnut - shoots along a trajectory as smooth as Dickens' own. The kids are adorable, and the adults charming.

That goes double for Hugh Panaro, the East Oak Lane native and Broadway actor (Phantom of the Opera, the title role), who returns after his memorable 2008 Walnut portrayal of Jean Valjean, the focal character in Les Miz. Panaro, who spends at least an hour before each performance uglying up in an otherworldly way, is a Fagin with a heart.

He plays the greedy Pied Piper of Pilfering with a wink-wink here and a bark-bark there. You get the feeling this Fagin actually knows better - and is, deep down, better in theory than in practice. Layering the character is no simple matter; at root, Fagin's a two-dimensional cartoon. But Panaro gives him a third perspective, in his way with the words and the songs.

And, oh, what songs. Oliver!, which debuted on Broadway in 1963, is the only real stage success its lyricist, composer and script writer, the late Lionel Bart, ever had. But it's a smashing one. If you haven't visited Bart's score in a while, just slip into a seat and consider yourself at home.

That's also the gist of one of the show's catchiest songs, expressively choreographed here by Mary Jane Houdina to bring out its best welcoming sentiment. I can get you singing just by tossing out the titles of others: Where Is Love? I Shall Scream (great fun, by veteran Philly actors Scott Greer and Mary Martello). I'd Do Anything. It's a Fine Life. As Long As He Needs Me (the torch song, fully ignited by Janine DiVita). Who Will Buy? There, you're off and humming. Don't blame me, blame Lionel Bart.

On opening night, red-headed Gregory Smith was Oliver, the picture of cute; he alternates with Sam Preston. Brandon O'Rourke was the peppy Artful Dodger, Fagin's chief of staff; he alternates with RJ Fattori. Anthony Lawton is superbad Bill Sikes, and John Peakes plays the man who comes to the rescue in this colorful picture of London's bleak, bustling Victorian streets.

That picture is adorned by Todd Edward Ivins' superb multilevel set of brick walls and wooden planks, which evoke many currently unreclaimed industrial British streets. Jeffrey Nellis did the precision lighting, Colleen Grady designed the many period costumes, and Nick Kourtides created the crystal sound.

The production brings out the rich quality of the show, with its tight story line and traditional musical form. Who will buy this wonderful feeling? Just about everyone, I suspect.

At the Walnut Street Theatre,

Ninth and Walnut Streets, through Jan. 10. Tickets: $10-$70. Information: 215-574-3550 or www.walnutstreettheatre.org.EndText