BY EVAN HENERSON >THEATER CRITIC

Another Blank season, another Michael John LaChiusa musical. With "Little Fish," however, things are just a bit more personal than in LaChiusa's past.

And personal's good. The icy artfulness of 2003's "First Lady Suite" and the bleak sprawl of 2005's "The Wild Party" were well and good (didn't see last year's "Hotel C'Est Lamour"). But "Little Fish," directed by Kirsten Sanderson in its West Coast premiere, has a real pulse.

In tracking a perpetually stepped-on New Yorker whose life goes into the toilet after she quits smoking, LaChiusa has narrowed his focus while simultaneously expanding his vision of a very big city.

That would be New York City, of course, where short-story writer Charlotte, her pals, men friends and the occasional newspaper salesman are all feeling rather small. Little fish in a big ocean, indeed. Still, the writer clearly cares for her well-being. As do we all.

Taken from the Deborah Eisenberg stories "Flotsam" and "Days," "Little Fish" finds Charlotte (played by a brunet Alice Ripley) in serious nicotine withdrawal, and looking to find a new center.

She flashes backward to Robert (Robert Torti), the literary ex-boyfriend who essentially told Charlotte - at some length - she would be forever mediocre. First roommate Cinder (Samantha Shelton) is a colorful basket case who freaks out when Charlotte steps on a towel.

Best bud Kathy (Dina Morishita) coaxes Charlotte into the pool at the YMCA. Her gay art-critic friend Marco (Chad Kimball) prefers running. Charlotte's not especially good at either activity. Basically, she'd rather be smoking.

Choreographer Jane Lanier has the actors criss-crossing the stage in Heelys for the swimming scenes. It's not exactly water ballet, but it gets the point across. Lanier also assembles a rather steamy club number that finds Charlotte pursuing a dancing gigolo.

LaChiusa's music, which in the past has been largely sung through dialogue, has recognizable narrative structure here (song titles are not listed in the program.) And with keyboardist/conductor David O. handling the musical duties, these songs have some real weight and bite.

Ripley's Charlotte suggests a spirit of endurance and - barely - resilience rather than hopefulness. After watching the character being buffeted for the better part of 90 minutes, we're enough in Ripley's corner that we'd like the character to catch a break.

The surrounding cast is, by and large, excellent. Shelton's Cinder is a cheerfully upbeat maniac. Kimball's keenly felt solo about Marco's own romantic troubles serves the dual purpose of allowing Ripley to leave the stage for a costume change. And Gregory Jbara's portrayal of a lecherous editor, Mr. Bunder, who clumsily hits on Charlotte, nearly brings the house down.

Evan Henerson (818) 713-3651 evan.henerson@dailynews.com