As I watched “Beauty and the Beast,” performed Saturday by the American Family Theater at the Maine Center for the Arts, I was reminded of the 1970s children’s show “The New Zoo Revu,” and the current popular program “Barney and Friends.” I didn’t like the former, nor do I like the latter, because everyone talks in high-pitched voices, is completely optimistic about everything, and has only two facial expressions (big smiles and big frowns). The range of expression in “Beauty and the Beast” was exactly the same.

It was a good thing the company included lots of bubble-gum pink set pieces, frilly gowns, singsongy music, glitzy lighting and a large, over-the-head mask for the beast. Otherwise, the children might have grown tired of all the smiling and frowning and smiling.

The show opened with a smoke-covered stage and a foreboding green spotlight shooting rays to various points on the stage. Then the cheerful cast burst forth to deliver the first of many jingly-jangly tunes. The opener went something like this: “Beauty and the Beast! Imagine! Beauty and the Beast! Imagine!”

In this fluffy version of the French fairytale, Beauty had two sisters, and all were to be treated to gifts by their father, who had found a piece of gold. The two sisters wanted jewelry, clothes and a house, but Beauty wanted a rose. Later, the father picked a rose from the Beast’s garden, and learned he must hand over one of his daughters in exchange. That’s how Beauty became a prisoner in the Beast’s 53-room castle.

As with the television shows, this musical had a lot to accomplish in less than an hour. Beauty went to the castle, met the Beast, was afraid of the Beast, danced with the Beast, fell in love with the Beast, broke the evil spell put on the Beast, married the Beast, and it was time for a reprisal of “Beauty and the Beast! Imagine! (etc.)”

Between the zealous songs, when the actors actually spoke to one another, they ended each line with an audible “ah,” which added to the dramatic mood of the evening. “Isn’t there anything I can do to make you happy-ah?” the Beast asked Beauty. And Beauty’s big line to him (which came later in the show) was “You can’t die. I love you-ah.”

For many children, the highlight of the show was a sneezing bit by the Beast’s butler, who kept inhaling dust from his feather duster. They also seemed willing to see the Beast as dangerous, even though he looked more like a sports-team mascot than a prince-turned-piranha. Still, the kids clapped supportively, almost rotely, when the Beast was transformed in a puff of smoke.

Just like on TV, everything turned out swell. Beauty taught the value of love, selflessness, reading and dancing. The Beast learned to be nice and handsome. And everyone smiled for them and at them. The fairytale ended when the Beast said, “All my wishes really did come true-ah.” And Beauty answered, “And so did mine-ah.”