STAGE REVIEWS : It’s ‘Scrooge,’ With and Without the Music : Buena Park’s Musical Version Is by the Younger Set

You’ve elbowed your way through malls that made downtown Hong Kong seem roomy. Your toddler scaled the Christmas tree and sent Grandma’s heirloom porcelain angel on an unscheduled flight. And your first batch of Christmas cookies came out blacker than last summer’s briquettes.

To quote dear Ebenezer: “Bah, humbug.”

But the Buena Park Children’s Theatre offers a cure for the holiday blues with “Scrooge,” a musical adaptation by James Leisy of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” Performances of the family show continue this weekend at the Buena Park High School Performing Arts Complex.

Granted, this is not one of the county’s slicker versions of “A Christmas Carol.” Like a lot of children’s shows, the sets and costumes are homespun and the acting is a little rough around the edges. But what this young cast lacks in polish, it makes up in Christmas spirit.

Directed by Ruth Walp, head of the children’s theater troupe for 10 seasons, the production features two alternating casts of kids ages 9 to 17 from Buena Park, Anaheim, Costa Mesa and Irvine. They relate Dickens’ tale with music, dance and enough youthful energy to light up a Christmas tree.

True to the original story, Scrooge (played last Sunday by Chris Milburn of Anaheim) is paid midnight visits by the ghost of his long-dead business partner Jacob Marley (Todd Taylor) and by the spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Future. On Christmas morning, Scrooge awakens a new man, eager to make amends to his long-suffering assistant Bob Cratchit (Jonathan Milburn) and the community at large.

A chorus of about 20 youngsters backs up the central characters with cheery tunes including “Deck the Halls,” “What Does Christmas Mean to You,” “Miracles Still Happen at Christmas,” and “The Spirit of Christmas Present” (led by Peri Baker, a plucky 10-year-old from Costa Mesa.)

The Buena Park Children’s Theatre is a project of the Buena Park Fine Arts Commission and is administered by the city’s Department of Recreation. The commission works with the Buena Park and Centralia school districts to provide cultural opportunities for area schoolchildren.

Walp, who retired in 1985 after 37 years of teaching, stages two children’s productions per season, each featuring youngsters from throughout the county. The troupe will be holding auditions in February for its summer production of “The Wizard of Oz.”

The Buena Park Children’s Theatre presents “Scrooge” Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. at the Buena Park High School Performing Arts Center, 8833 Academy Way. Tickets can be purchased at the door: $2 for children under 12, $3 for adults. Information: (714) 821-1010 or 821-1394.