Time has produced a new crop of child actors, so it's time for Army Community Theatre to again produce "Oliver!" — Lionel Bart's musical version of the classic novel by Charles Dickens.

Lest anybody be too quick to say that Bart's interpretation made an orphan's lot in Victorian England a much too happy one, the adaptation excellently cuts down the original wordy tome to its essential plot line.

But unfortunately the current ACT production of "Oliver!" fails to earn its exclamation point. Directed by Stephanie Conching, the dreary tale of workhouses, pickpockets, and dastardly villains is unremittingly, well, dreary.

In this version, the orphans are regimented, the pickpockets favor straight line formations, and the pacing has all the vitality of a somber tea party.

Choreography by Grace Bell Humerickhouse features lots of marching in place, skipping in circles, and studied moves that are aerobic rather than artful.

The orchestra shows promise, when musical director Larry Cross can get the musicians and the chorus aligned on the same tempo, but there isn't a single solo voice that can rise to the demands of the lyrics.

The stage picture, however, is truly remarkable. Dennis Hassan is responsible for the set and Bruce Duerden for the lighting.

At first glance, the scenery suggests that somebody gathered up the flotsam and jetsam left over from filming "The Titanic" and dumped it inside the fence from the rumble scene in "West Side Story."

But as our eyes pick over the details, we begin to sort out shutters and staircases. Then they begin to move, and backdrops and rooflines fly smoothly in and out. And when street lamps begin to glow against dusky London skies, the illusion is complete.

Still, you can't survive "Oliver!" by simply observing the scenery. There are all those pesky songs and characters that keep getting in the way.

And then there's the title character — an orphan kid with spunk. He's not quite Annie Rooney, but should still have a couple of red corpuscles to call his own. Fagin, the boy-corruptor who's understandably in love with his box of stolen treasures, and the Artful Dodger, another orphan kid who lives by his wits and lines the path to degradation with sly charm, are here in this production, but you have to go in and look for them. And it helps a lot if you know what you're looking for because they'd otherwise be hard to find.