Doggone it if Oh Canada Eh? dinner theatre in Canmore isn't serving up a dandy little version of the off-Broadway musical Snoopy!.

Many of the skits linking the songs and dances in Snoopy! fall flat so the show rests squarely on the musical numbers, the characterizations of the actors and the staging.

Oh Canada Eh? delivers admirably on all counts.

Artistic director J.P. Thibodeau and choreographer Tara Thibodeau give zip to the big production numbers, but know how to pull back when sweetness, rather than energy, sells a song.

Poor Sweet Baby, the lullaby Peppermint Patty (Laska Sawade) sings to Charlie Brown (Joe Morris), had people sniffling.

It helps Morris is an actor who brings depth and pathos to even a cartoon character and Sawade makes Patty a strong, no-nonsense woman.

As Lucy Van Pelt, Ashlie White treats each solo as a torch song and she has the voice to make it work.

As Woodstock, Amery Sandford dances and mimes up a storm while Sally (Jordana Jackson) and Linus (Ken Chamberland) punch up their comedy routines.

If any production of Snoopy! hits the heart and the funny bone with equal force it needs a show-stopping Beagle and Brent Middleton is it.

His rendition of The Big Bow Wow is a winner.

Kudos to the crew and cast at Oh Canada Eh? for making Just One Person a song as inspirational as it is catchy.

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