"Is this going to end soon, Uncle Joel?," Evan, my 4-year-old nephew, asked 30 minutes into Annie.

"No, Evan," I answered. "There are many more songs coming up."

"Good, because I am really liking this," he responded.

Theatre Under the Stars self-produced staging of Annie was Evan's first "formal" performing arts experience, just like it was mine roughly three decades prior. I wasn't sure whether he was old enough for some of the darker themes in the musical. But as my first Annie didn't mess with my world too much — other than dedicating my early years to learning "Tomorrow," It's a Hard-Knock-Life" and "Maybe" in two languages and with accompanying choreography — the universe wouldn't let me pass up the chance to come full circle.

It's like a movie with real people: That's how Evan best understood theater. That he stayed awake for the full two-and-a-half-hour evening was a surprise. That he loved it enough to ask to see more meant I had fulfilled my duties.

There are dangers when staging Annie — anyone who was exposed to Bambi knows the potential pitfalls of subject matters that can shake the foundation of a child's safety net: Hope can come across as despair, mischievousness can be replaced for ugliness and fantasy can take a back seat to realism.

After all, a play like Annie balances elements of pure entertainment with back-to-basics life lessons, and a production that tips the scale towards either end is bound to fail.

Director Mark Waldrop had previously staged a successful run of Annie at the Olney Theatre Center in Maryland in November 2010. One reviewer credited a "relaxed and confident" cast to his "sure handed" direction while The Washington Post's Nelson Pressley opined that Waldrop's "deep, appealing cast beams as they bring Annie's irrepressibly cheerful numbers home."

Waldrop also staged other shows with similar sensitivities, Sound of Music and Cinderella among them.

Olney's and TUTS' productions shared George Dvorsky (Oliver Warbucks) and choreographer Tara Jeanne Vallee, for which she received a Helen Hayes Award nomination. With Ming Cho Lee's set designs and costumes by Theoni Aldridge stemming from the 2005-07 United States tour, this Annie is traditional with nostalgia of the elegance and optimism of musicals of yesteryear. It preserves the look and feel of the politically-inspired comic strip that birthed the ginger girl everyone adores.

Nothing leaps off the page as new and groundbreaking. And thank goodness for that: Waldrop's Annie is quite strong at its core.

Nine-year-old Brenham-native Sadie Sink captured the hearts of everyone listening with vocals that were innocent and sweetly optimistic but possessed with the twangy edge needed to awaken Annie's sassy character. Sink is a natural with a commanding range to soar through the difficult intervals of "Maybe" and the sustaining demands of "Tomorrow."

Sure, there was plenty of cutesy fun in the orphans' ensemble numbers, especially at the hands of 5-year-old Mara-Catherine Wissinger, who played Molly.

As Daddy Warbucks goes, Dvorsky is a delightfully complex father figure who softens his character from a stressed business professional into a loving caretaker. Doesn't everyone want a bold-headed Mr. Clean type to come to their rescue? Yet he also allows the possibility that a child can save him from capitalistic worries.

Glory Crampton is an elegant, poised Grace Farrell, Warbuck's personal assistant.

Michele Ragusa as Miss Hannigan, Annie's antithesis, may be a villainous character but she doesn't come across as hard or evil. Rather, Ragusa's portrayal resembles a caricature-like scoundrel twisted by life experiences. She's human and audiences can't help but empathize with the plight that has landed her in her current predicament.

At times, company scenes appeared slightly disorganized, perhaps under rehearsed. Audience members seeking professional perfection may be put off by messy choreography and blocking. But at the end, such disarray adds a touch of endearing real world slapstick.

All and all, TUTS' Annie is a sweet show by kids for kids and the young at heart. Even in March, what child wouldn't love a Christmas story about an underdog rising to become the hero?

Though satisfying, this Annie isn't precisely polished. But any production that encourages children to explore the world of performing arts is an overwhelming triumph.

TUTS' Annie runs through Sunday at the Hobby Center. Tickets start at $24 and can be purchased online or by calling 713-558-8887.