By popular demand, Pip Pocket Productions has brought back its highly praised musical adaptation of the great Dickens novel Great Expectations. The musical is deserving of its praise. It was lovingly adapted by Margaret Hoorneman (who is 92) with help from Brian VanDerWilt and Steve Lozier, with music by composer Richard Winzeler and lyrics by Steve Lane. For a first production, it is a great feat.

The novel on which it is based is a hefty 59 chapters long. The first accomplishment of the piece is the creation of a stage musical adaptation that comes in at around two and a half hours. The editing is well done, though some more judicious cutting might have reduced the running time even a bit more, say to two hours fifteen.

Great Expectations is the story of an orphan, Pip, who becomes entangled with a cold debutante, a bitter bride, a convict, a stuffy lawyer, and other assorted colorful Dickens characters. Troy Hussmann, as Young Pip, has mastered a difficult accent and delivers a believable country boy. Terren Mueller is a delightful Young Herbert. A pretty Kailey Swanson performs Young Stella, and Young Biddy is an adorable Britt Flatmo.

The adult versions of these children are very successful, though some of the other adults don’t fare so well. Pip is played by the handsome Adam Simmons. He has to carry the bulk of the story and the music. He needs to look for a better way to play the last 20 minutes, because at that point he seems totally defeated and has nowhere to go. His singing is very nice; though he sometimes pinches his high notes, otherwise he has a lovely rich tenor.

All the women are well played. Estella is a cool Annie Abrams, whose voice is small but lovely. Biddy is a gorgeous Zarah Mahler. She makes you feel her pain in loving Pip. Tricia Kelly makes a strong-voiced and forceful Mrs. Joe as well as Young Miss Haversham. But the best of all the performances is Miss Haversham as played by Ellen Crawford. Ms. Crawford catches the bitterness of a woman scorned as well as the heartfelt repentance of a woman who has poisoned the mind of her adopted daughter Stella. Her song “What Have I Done” was one of the best numbers.

Jules Aaron, who always seems to have several shows running, has done a great job of telling the story and keeping the twisting plot clear. I offer one suggestion for the last scene, however. The story gets slow and depressing, with all its deaths and disappointments. I think they could find a better closing number and scene. The superb David Lean movie version, for example, takes license to have Stella sitting in Haversham’s chair; Pip tears down the curtains and saves her from turning into Miss Haversham by showing her he still cares despite her past treatment of him. This isn’t in the book, but it sure made a dramatic ending. At the Odyssey Theatre through August 31 with a probable extension for another 6 weeks.