STAGE REVIEW : A Well-Rounded ‘Point’

“The Point,” Harry Nilsson’s animated ‘70s fantasy about round-headed Oblio trying to find his place in a pointy-headed world, has plenty to offer children. But the multilayered odyssey, with its jazz riffs and dreamy musical segues, satiric references to censorship, lawyers and politics, succeeds as an allegory for adults as well.

Both audiences are served, albeit less evenly, in director Esquire Jauchem’s Performing Arts Conservatory dramatization at the Chapel Court Theatre: This West Coast premiere is a big show with a small budget in a tiny theater.

Pleasures include Dr. Seuss-like set pieces by production designers Dick Gardner and Summer Swann, a terrific live band and cast standouts Alan Brooks as the evil Count and Richard Merson as King, Leafman and Baby Pterodactyl.

Nilsson’s fabulous, quirky songs--including “Me and My Arrow”--are a tough challenge for the cast, surviving best as group numbers; puppet designer Pierre Vuilleumier, who skillfully operates the irresistible big blue dog puppet Arrow, is the truest solo interpreter of the tunes.

But hand-held microphones break the flow, Dana Lynne Loats’ costumes are a mix of the imaginative and the mundane (the Pointed Person is a disappointment) and some performers lack punch, including the two narrators, dancers Delane Vaughn and Bianca Rossini --despite choreographer Janet Eilber’s efforts, they’re like birds with clipped wings in the constrained space.

“The Point,” Chapel Court Theatre, Highland and Franklin avenues, Hollywood, Friday, 8 p.m.; Saturday, 4 and 8 p.m.; Sunday, 7 p.m. Runs indefinitely. $10-$17.50. (213) 874-4527. Running time: 1 hour, 40 minutes.