Hope Summer Repertory Theatre’s Children’s Performance Troupe has discovered a delightful new children’s musical, “The Doll People,” which opened July 9 for a packed house of about 100 kids and their parents. Many in the audience were young enough to sit on laps, and yet there was nary a whimper or whine as the fast-paced, 50-minute show unfolded.

Based on the best-selling children’s books of Ann M. Martin, “The Doll People” was adapted into a catchy musical by Jahnna Beecham and her husband Malcolm Hillgartner, who have been involved in many HSRT productions. Beecham returned to Hope to direct the Midwest premiere of her musical.

The story is about a 100-year-old china doll family that lives in a dollhouse that engulfs the stage and audience. The dolls come to life when the real people aren’t looking, but they have to watch out for the cat, who’s been known to attack.

Beecham uses color blind casting for her multi-ethnic doll family. But when you’ve got doll characters with bright green hair and a blue plastic coiffure, it’s no time to get hung up on skin tones. Besides, accepting differences is one of the themes of the story, as the Victorian doll house is invaded by a bubbling plastic princess from the Barbie doll generation.

Acting intern Taylor Harvey does an excellent job of portraying Annabelle Doll, the green-haired permanently 8-year-old daughter in the Doll family, who has discovered a diary left behind by her Auntie Sarah who disappeared 45 years ago. Another acting intern, Olivia Donalson, bursts with energy as the plastic, blue-haired Tiffany Funcraft, who buzzes onto the scene in a pink Barbie convertible. Despite their differences, the two quickly become friends and plot to leave the dollhouse and find the missing Auntie Sarah (Maddie Baldwin). But not without Annabelle’s mustached Uncle Doll, portrayed with proper British demeanor by Aleksandr Krepivkin.

The trio head to the attic, where they discover Sarah caught in a mouse trap and covered in spider webs. Adrianna Jones does such a great job bouncing around the stage in her eight-leg spider suit that I never even recognized her as the same actress who portrays the more primly dressed nanny for the Doll family.

Annabelle’s insistent little brother, sailor-suited Bobby, is given an enthusiastic portrayal by acting intern Aaron Alcaraz. Taylor Quick as Mama and Manning Goldman as Papa complete the Doll family.

The entire cast does a fantastic job of switching back and forth between the robotic movements of their doll personas and the warmth of their characters when the dolls come to life. One number has the entire cast doing a robotic hoedown dance when the unseen child wants to play “ranch family” with the dolls. The company’s appearance of being forced to act totally out-of-character is hilarious.

The tension is gripping in the attic scene when the room darkens and scary cat’s eyes appear. But the dolls sing a rhythmic number about one last chance as everyone in the room seems to hold their breath. Little audience members were wide-eyed with anticipation and ecstatic at the dolls’ bold action.

Outsized props, such as a giant instamatic camera and a huge yellow crayon, help to create the illusion of the actors being doll size.

Audience members were encouraged to bring dolls and stuffed animals to the show. At the end of the program, the children were invited onto the stage in the center of the room to show off their dolls. Then they lead a parade upstairs to meet the cast.

“The Doll People” is a great introduction to theater for young people, and their doll friends.