"Little Bo-Peep and the Great Lost Sheep Caper" is a one-hour children's show at Theatre Three that will make you question whether you really know your fairy tales -- or anything else you've seen in print.

The show begins with fairy-tale land all abuzz with Little Bo-Peep (played by J.R. Santos-Stewart) going to trial for losing her sheep. The main objective of the mayor, Humpty Dumpty (played by George Liberman), is to try to call into question if she really just lost them, make her look like an unfit shepherdess, and claim the sheep for his own if they can ever be recovered. Little Miss Muffet (played by Anya Absten) is an ambitious radio show host who hopes to get a book deal out of her coverage of the trial and is quite willing to make the story as dramatic as possible, without much concern about accuracy.

In the course of the show, more than the accuracy of Miss Muffet's news coverage is called into question. Even the nursery rhyme about Bo-Peep, whether she really fell asleep and lost her sheep, becomes suspect.

"The idea was to teach kids about the media. Don't believe everything you see on TV. Don't believe everything you hear," said Jeffrey Sanzel, executive artistic director and writer of the show. "I'm not anti-media, but kids need to know just because you see it on TV doesn't make it true." He said that reality shows, which became popular after he wrote the show in 1992, especially make the message relevant.

The musical has a cast of familiar characters, some, such as Mother Goose and Old King Cole (played by Joy Tepedino and Ryan Alvarado) are puppets. All, as you may have guessed from the description above, are probably rather different than usually imagined. There are some unfamiliar characters as well. Bo-Peep's parents, Joe and Flo Peep (played by Steve Weinblatt and Barbara Andersen), are two of them. We also get to know a couple of Bo-Peep's sheep.

Mr. Sanzel was hired by Theatre Three about 20 years ago to develop children's shows, and this musical makes it clear why. His script strikes a remarkable balance of respect and irreverence for traditional fairy tales, and the actors follow suit. Ms. Santos-Stewart is a woman with a stronger presence than one would normally associate with an ingénue, and she plays this irony to the hilt. At times she plays absurd delicacy, pointing her toe and dancing à la Dalzroze, arms flowing around the stage. Other times she almost breaks character to semi-growl at her persecutors, throwing her weight around.

Other actors use accents to give their characters a little more, well, character. The most effective of these is Ms. Absten, who heightens her pretense with a clipped British accent and heightens her unmasking with a nasal New York one. The reasons for other accents in the show aren't entirely clear. Maybe Humpty Dumpty is Southern to make him a bit like the Kingfish, Huey P. Long? (The just judge, Blanche Blackbird, is also Southern, perhaps to make sure we know this isn't an anti-Southern play?) The most random-seeming accent is the semi-Italian one of the Peep parents (which Bo doesn't share, presumably because she is second generation).

"It's good," said Jennifer Ponzini of Mount Sinai. She brought her children, Anthony, 3, and Alexandra, 4, to the Jan. 17 performance. She said her children could follow the play well and understood the story line. It was their first time to Theatre Three but not to children's shows. "In the movies they fall asleep," Ms. Ponzini said. "They like the live shows better. It catches their attention." She said the show's being only an hour long also keeps kids watching.

A good script, funny voices, puppets, and moments where characters break through the fourth wall to ask kids questions and make eye contact in the aisles all made the show worth seeing. But, as Mr. Sanzel wrote, you can't believe everything you see in the paper. You might have to go see for yourself.

"Little Bo-Peep and the Great Lost Sheep Caper" plays at Theatre Three through Jan. 31. Tickets are $8. Visit www.theaterthree.com for more information. The show is recommended for children ages 3 and up.

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