They say you shouldn't compare apples and oranges. Why not? They're both round, they're both fruit - let's face it, they have more in common than not.  I suggest we change this illogical proverb to "Don't compare apples and orphanages," two things that really have nothing in common. Food for thought.

Speaking of orphanages, guess who has two thumbs and once spent an entire summer working in a theater publicity office while dozens of orphans slammed mop buckets and bellowed in tempo mere feet away about their hard-knock flippin' lives? Yeah, this guy! So guess how stoked I was to see Capital Playhouse's production of Annie! Harold Gray, the writer and cartoonist who drew Little Orphan Annie, died a month before I was born (Wikipedia, by the way, currently claims Gray was born on Yavin and grew up on the Death Star), and he based the comic strip on a poem from 1885. Oh, yes, I do know what you're thinking, and yes, there was a radio show in the '30s, and yes, it was sponsored by Ovaltine. Even Broadway's Annie debuted a month before Star Wars.  It ain't fresh material - and who gets nostalgic for the happy-go-lucky Hoover years?

And yet ...

I know it didn't happen during the umpty-eleventh reprise of "Tomorrow" - believe me, no matter what your opinion of that plucky anthem might be, you'll get sick of it long before the score does - but I gradually surrendered my cherished notion that Annie was really the heartbreaking biography of Miss Hannigan, pestered into insanity by a coven of rags-and-patches wee-demons. I noted the disarmingly tiny adorability (and stage presence) of Kate Hayes as Molly. I realized understudy Erin Snodgrass managed to warble through "Tomorrow" while simultaneously calming Sandy the dog. I asked myself how they kept Sandy, given name Leander of the Summerland, from going arfing bonkers onstage.

By the time all was said and done, I really had only two complaints. One was Patrick Wigen's portrayal of Rooster, a cartoonish caricature that shows off Wigen's limber athleticism but runs completely out of sync with the rest of the show. The other was a line reading that turned "you dumb hotel" into "ya dumb ho...tel," which was both anachronistic and, I think it's fair to say, dopey.

Crazy and a Half

Meanwhile, in Oly's Midnight Sun, Prodigal Sun Productions offers Crazy and a Half, a sextet of comic playlets in the vein of Christopher Durang's Beyond Therapy. As with Harlequin's Six Hotels, a few actors appear and reappear in various guises; as with Annie, there's a dog onstage with minimal fuss.  A well-executed tech cue near the end provides "small spectacle," and the script is amusing if 20 minutes too long.  Eric Cornelius has settled nicely into a looser acting style than I've seen from him in the past, Elizabeth Lord is reliably effective, and Brian Jansen has fun with Dr. Robert Kittleson, a supercilious prig of a psychiatrist. Pam Arndt busts out a convincing Queens hawnk, but she and Cornelius struggled opening night at blending accents with acting - it's tougher than it looks.

Rochelle Morris goes for broke with her characters, one of whom finishes the show in a barely-dressed, howling epiphany. But the real find of Crazy and a Half is Aaron Bredlau, formerly of Sin City, Nevada; I'd met him at parties but was somehow unaware that he acted. Boy, does he! This guy brings professional credibility, presence, timing and bravery to characters that by all rights should've flown off the rails.  I look forward to seeing more of his work in the future.

Apples and orphanages? You bet. I'm an apple guy myself, but if you're the sort of sunny Pollyanna who's convinced folks are never "Fully Dressed" without a smile, then I suppose I can grudgingly understand.

Annie

Through May 29, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, $26-$37
Capital Playhouse, 612 E. Fourth Ave., Olympia
360.943.2744

Crazy and a Half

May 7-22, 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, also May 16 at 8 p.m., $12, pay what you can performance May 13, tickets available at buyolympia.com
The Midnight Sun, 113 N Columbia St., Olympia
360.250.2721