Hansel and Gretel in Beautiful Burbank

“Hansel and Gretel” has long been regarded as family fare. But seldom has there come along a version of the classic tale that’s as much a family affair as the one opening at the Falcon Theatre on Saturday.

Updated, re-imagined and modernized to maximize the laughs, the new adaptation is the work of Lori Marshall, a playwright-author who happens to be the eldest of Falcon Theatre founder Garry Marshall’s three children. Staged by Falcon associate director Kevin Larkin, it stars Jo Anne Worley in the pivotal role of the nanny/witch and features the voices of Penny Marshall, Garry Marshall and other surprise celebrity guests.

It’s not all in the family, but it’s close, and for good reason, given the family in question. “The only part that was written specifically with a person in mind was the part of Miz Moon [the voice-over narrator], who I thought should be played by my Aunt Penny,” says Lori Marshall. “She has a great voice that I thought parents would recognize and kids would laugh at.”

What’s more, “Hansel and Gretel” was partly inspired by Lori Marshall’s own experiences raising her 4-year-old twins, Lily and Charlotte. “I got the idea to adapt ‘Hansel and Gretel’ because my girls have recently made the discovery that it’s cool to have a sibling,” Marshall says. “They can play. They can fight. They can make up. But they will always have each other as an ally.”

Even the non-Marshalls involved see “Hansel and Gretel” as a kind of “family” project. “The challenge of this piece was in doing a total revamping of a fairy tale,” says Larkin, himself the father of two young sons, who has directed all four of the Falcon’s previous children’s plays, including Lori Marshall’s adaptation of “Rapunzel” last summer. “It’s about family, and that it’s absolutely OK to be from a one-parent family.”

But the Falcon children’s show isn’t only about the message. It’s also about fun and top-drawer production values, which helps explain the casting of nearby Toluca Lake resident Worley.

“I tailored the part so Jo Anne gets to play three parts in one, and I think it really showcases her comic timing,” Marshall says. “She is fearlessly funny and commits so much to every line with an attitude that is very kid-friendly.”

And from Worley’s point of view, it was an opportunity to put her versatility to good use. “I play three characters,” the actress says. “Actually, I’m all the same person pretending to be these other characters, but the base is the witch. The witch, in this particular production, has to go through a change and become a good person. You can do that in life, you’ve got a chance.

“Plus, I live in the ‘hood,” she adds, “and I love doing my work and being able to go home immediately.”

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While there’s been a great deal of hand-wringing in recent years about the graying of the theater audience, there has been little action taken to counter this trend. Many organizations tour minimally produced dramatic shows to schools, but few theaters have an ongoing commitment to high quality children’s programming as part of their main bill of fare.

But with a series of professionally crafted young audience shows, the 3-year-old Burbank venue has demonstrated a faith in, as well as a flair for, plays designed to help cultivate theatergoers of the future.

Typically, the Falcon’s shows speak to issues facing today’s families. “My goal with both [“Rapunzel” and “Hansel and Gretel”] was to write a show that both parents and kids could enjoy together,” says Marshall. “So one of the similarities that you’ll notice is that both plays use humor as well as modern-day references to reach people.”

That’s what makes Worley ideal for her role. “She’s a comic doyenne,” Larkin says. “She’s the best team leader you could ask for.”

Indeed, chatting with the irrepressible actress in her dressing room at the Falcon, it seems time has stood still. That same high-wattage smile, those huge round eyes and the fringy mop of dark bangs remain virtually unchanged since the “Laugh-In” days.

Ditto her leggy figure and impressive vocal range. Like many actresses, Worley declines to divulge her age. Unlike most, she truly is charmingly ageless.

Raised on a farm near Lowell, Ind., Worley comes from a “big family--five children, all loud.” But it became clear at an early age that she wasn’t going to be kept down on that farm for long. “It’s a joke in my act but it’s true: I was thrown out of the high school glee club for being too gleeful--for cutting up and making problems,” she says.

Working at a truck stop during high school, Worley saved her money. Then, as soon as she graduated, she headed for Nyack, N.Y., to become an apprentice at a theater called the Pickwick Players.

From there, she obtained a drama scholarship to Midwestern University in Wichita Falls, Texas, where she stayed for a year and a half.

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After that, Worley moved to L.A., took a secretarial job and went to acting school at night. She also attended a summer session of theater training at the Pasadena Playhouse--the same theater where she would eventually return, in 1997, to play the lead in the West Coast premiere of the backstage comedy “Moon Over Buffalo.” “Not that [the character] Charlotte drives the plot--but the distinctive personality of the actress who plays her is clearly the drawing card,” wrote The Times’ Don Shirley in his review. “She can make the audience roar over the line, ‘Hello, George.’ ”

That success was particularly sweet for Worley, given that things didn’t go exactly as planned at Pasadena the first time around. “As a matter of fact, I was asked to leave the dorm--a troublemaker,” she says.

Worley’s first shows were at a now-defunct Hollywood venue known as the Music Box Theatre. There she performed in plays, musicals and even operetta, including “Wonderful Town” and “The Mikado.” Her first Equity contract was in a “Billy Barnes’ People” revue. “When it went to Broadway, I knew I was leaving Los Angeles forever,” Worley says.

She settled in New York. “I got an awful apartment--had millions of cockroaches--and then I took a road show just to get away from that apartment,” she says. She would wind up coming back to L.A., however, by way of Las Vegas, where she went to take part in a pilot. “I went to Vegas and did the show and it folded,” Worley recalls.

“So, since I was on the West Coast, I went into Los Angeles.

“I was in my agent’s office and he was on the phone selling another comedian to George Schlatter, the producer of ‘Laugh-In,’ and he just put me on the phone, and I made [Schlatter] laugh.”

Schlatter, the 1968-1973 NBC series’ creator-producer, cast Worley and a number of other then-unknowns for “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In,” an innovative hour of ensemble comedy filled with skits, gags and other fast-paced humor, led by stand-ups Dan Rowan and Dick Martin. The Monday night program, broadcast from “beautiful downtown Burbank,” was prime-time television’s top-rated show in its first two seasons.

It also changed the lives of its young cast members, including Worley. After four years on “Laugh-In,” she says, “my name went from below the title to above the title.”

But in other ways, her creative life went right back on track and back to the boards. “I continued to do lots of theater,” Worley says. “I would also do episodic TV, movies of the week, concerts and commercials, all different kinds of things.”

And although her work has ranged far and wide over the decades, theater has remained a staple. She has performed in national companies of such shows as “The Wizard of Oz” (starring with Mickey Rooney in a staging seen at the Pantages Theatre and in New York last year), “Annie” and “The Pirates of Penzance,” and also toured in productions of “Mame,” “Hello, Dolly!,” “Nunsense,” “Gypsy” and more.

“I do a lot of musical comedy theater, but I do not have a burning desire to do Lady Macbeth. Can you say, bo-rrrring!” quips the actress, invoking her signature quasi-operatic call from the “Laugh-In” days. “I’m sure that’s just wonderful to dig in and find all the stuff with Lady Macbeth, but I prefer to make people laugh. It’s that simple.”

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“HANSEL AND GRETEL,” Falcon Theatre, 4252 Riverside Drive, Burbank. Dates: Plays Saturdays, 1 and 3:30 p.m.; Sundays, 1 p.m. Ends May 21. Prices: $8.50. Phone: (818) 955-8101.