Director David Zybert has put together a bubbly combination of real people who flesh out comic-strip mogul Charles Schulz's come-to-life cartoon characters with disarming success. "Charlie Brown" is one of those deceptively difficult shows that comes off as a breezy night out for moms, pops, grannies, granddads and the kids because director and cast have been serious enough to give it the old comic-strip try, and light-hearted enough to let the show work with what seems like effortless ease.

The trick to bringing off this world of children encumbered with the neuroses and egos of adults is to create performance souffles where kids play adults playing kids, rather than having adults playing adults playing kids, which is a heavier, less fun way to go. I liked the cast and its lightness of playing at playing. I also liked Zybert's ability at keeping his charges on the droll side of storytelling.

Charlie Brown, the kid with Prozac in his future, is played with just the right vulnerability sans dreadful loss of self esteem by Allan A. Maki. At least for adults (kids so easily adapt) Charlie is an audiences's way into the show; everyone has been spurned by that little red-haired girl (or boy) at some point in life. Maki's Charlie has the gosh-and-gee-whiz tone that makes him more fun to encounter than sad to ponder.

The thumb-sucking, blanket-clutching Linus is given a sweet, aggressively challenged approach by the thoroughly entertaining Michael Peters. Peters' "blanket" dance is the show's most delightful and endearing moment. Not far behind in the endearment department is the rest of the cast. Playing Charlie's attitudinal pooch, Snoopy, Mari-Kristin Cetkovick has a field day. "Supertime," choreographed by Elizabeth Weigel (as is the entire show), is an ecstatic moment of puppy love for one's dog dish and Celtkovick comes as close as an arf at making it a howl.

Visually, Colette Cassini's Lucy is an example of perfect casting with her acting out of this nasty, pushy little girl coming in a close second. Cassini's "The Doctor Is In" has a hard-edged manner that should end what's left of the house-call business. Beethoven lover Schroeder, the precocious piano-playing lad who gives Lucy the brushoff with every note he plays, is emphatically brought off by a shrewdly stressed Kenneth T. Ostrom. As for the rope-skipping Patty, Amber Haven is more than up to gluing together the show's only composite kid (a roster of Schulz characters molded into one). Haven brings a perky, indomitable quality to Patty that more than holds its own against the assertively acerbic Lucy.

The one major omission with this cast is its lack of solid singing talent. The singing is passable, often more spoken than sung, which neither enhances nor detracts from Clark Gesner's cute but unremarkable music and lyrics. The show's music is supervised and accompanied by Richard Szitar in a consistently professional manner (with able assists from drummer Julie Robertson and flutist Bruce Robertson).

The set is unpretentious, and works well in the arena-style situation used for the show (the Elks Club's dance floor with unraked seating on either side). An oversized dog house, an undersized piano, a booth touting psychiatric help, a bench and a bean-bag chair make up the set, which leaves plenty of room for imagination - and Rick Patton's exceptional lighting provides ample doses of that, giving "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" a kid's color-book look that's as unassuming and bright as this pleasant little show is choice and fun.

"You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" plays Fridays and Saturdays at 8 and Sunday afternoons at 2 through June 6. The show can be seen at the Reno Elks Club, 597 Kumle Lane (across from the Reno-Sparks Convention Center on South Virginia Street), Reno, Nevada. For information call 775 331 1877.