Four years later, "Annie" is becoming frayed around the edges, at least in the touring version which opened a two-week stand at the Fox Theatre last night, but it's still the best kids and dog cartoon musical comedy around.
          It's been 4 1/2 years since the urchins inspired by Harold Gray's comic strip first hit the musical comedy stage. Some of those original kids may be mommies already but the show is chugging along with no end in sight, soon, as they say, to be a major motion picture.
          Martin Charnin, who conceived the project, wrote the lyrics and directed it, retains all three credits on this present version, indicating that the "Annie" management has not yet abandoned even the touring edition to the care of underlings.
          But, if Charnin's still in charge, he's let a few things slip. Don't mistake. This is the original show in all but a few minor details, of which more directly. It's just that time has dulled some of its luster.
          Those delightful dances devised by Peter Gennaro for the sextet of orphans retain all their enormous appeal, but now, far too often, the girls just chant their lines with little effort at pointing them. And the grownups aren't exempt, either. Bits of business fondly remembered from earlier encounters are now telegraphed well in advance, executed with all the delicacy of a backhoe and held proudly for the expected applause.
          What once was subtle has disintegrated into rote. The kids have been allowed to develop rituals, the adults encouraged to play the sure laughs.

          Happily, many of set designer David Mitchell's deftest effects have been retained, even though this troupe travels without the treadmills which so distinguished the original staging. A couple of backdrops have been left out. A few pieces of scenery, a snow effect and one actor have been dropped. Judy Rasmuson's lighting design is much simplified.
          But Theoni V. Aldredge's delicious costumes are all present and accounted for and Arthur Greene conducts a nimble pit orchestra in what sounds to be an exact rendition of all the original tempos and accents.
          There's even a snippet of an original song, "That's Our Annie," for the treacherous villains pretending to be the heroine's long-lost parents, but too little of it is heard to make an impression. "Maybe," "Easy Street", the title song and, of course, "Tomorrow" are still the best songs in Charles Strouse's durable score.
          Thomas Meehan's book wears well, too, even if it remains hard to reconcile Franklin D. Roosevelt's role in the Little Orphan Annie legend.
          The acting company at the Fox has nothing to apologize for, other than the creeping broadness which the director must be encouraging.
          Rhodes Reason is a scowling, brusque and courtly billionaire whose dissolvement into "Daddy" Warbucks is particularly toasty. Kathleen Freeman chews at the juicy role of the orphanage keeper with decades of scene-stealing experience on display, and pretty Lauren Mitchell is in the grand tradition of Warbucks' secretaries.
          Bridget Walsh looks every inch an Annie, sings with gusto if not much accuracy and is quite as appealing as your average 10-year-old girl. But someone should explain patiently just what all those words mean.
          As the imposter parents, J.B. Adams is nicely dissolute and Wendy Kimball is as pert as a pullet. Jack Denton's F.D.R. impression is visually superb but vocally soft.
          This is the third trip to the Fox for "Annie" and they're finally getting the sound to work. Or maybe the words are becoming familiar. Whichever, the acoustical problems so legendary at the Fox seemed less in evidence last night. Canned sound is still loathsome but comprehension helps.