It's fair game to reinterpret a classic tale, so the "Snow White" season opener for the Honolulu Theatre for Youth is credible as an ambitious project. And with Disney's overshadowing animated musical film stamped on the American consciousness as the definitive interpretation of the story, this production is especially brave.

However, any new attempt must find in the central theme values that are strong enough to keep us distracted from mentally whistling Disney's overwhelmingly catchy "Heigh Ho" marching song. The HTY version, written by Hester Kamin and directed by Harry Wong III, adds some valid twists to the story but fails to fully succeed in creating a new take on the original tale.

Kamin's plot line stays fairly close to the Brothers Grimm tale, with its dwarfs, magic mirror, wicked queen and poisoned apple — but the most innovative changes don't play well.

The dialogue was written by Kamin in iambic pentameter, the rhyme scheme used by Shakespeare — a daunting measuring stick — with precise meter and rhyming end words.

The result adds shape and formality to the dialogue but neither elevates nor deepens it. Instead, the poetry becomes the master of the story instead of its servant. Eventually, it thuds on the ear like poor greeting-card doggerel, drawing attention to itself and away from the action by forcing words to fit the rhyme.

In a second production twist, one actor plays all seven dwarfs. While the move might be driven by a practical need to reduce the cast size by six, it also offers a remarkable acting challenge. Company actor Hermen Tesoro Jr., throws himself into the concept with great vigor but ultimately comes across as a single character suffering from a splintered multiple-personality disorder.

Director Wong often has Tesoro circling a stationary Snow White, throwing off a different dwarf character line with each revolution. Sadly, the gimmick lacks clarity and leaves us confused and slightly dizzy.

Tesoro also plays the Hunter who winds up with Snow White in the finale. Eliminating the Prince is another character economy, and an egalitarian step down in social standing for the heroine.

But this Snow White is not an ivory-tower princess, anyway. Played with street-smart assertiveness by Stephanie Kuroda, she wields a pretty mean dagger — first pulling it on the fumbling hunter, then engaging in skilled blade play with Dusty Behner's Queen, herself no slouch when it comes to handling a shiv.

Among the production elements, turning large storybook pages and rearranging movable trees mark the scene changes, and vocal sound effects by the actors add fun. Most successful is the large invisible mirror that separates the Queen from the audience. When she demands to know "Who's the fairest of them all?" the audience delights in shouting back "Snow White! Snow White!"