‘The Strike Before Christmas’ Plays Unevenly

Underpaid and unappreciated, cranky elves refuse to make any more toys in “ ‘Twas the Strike Before Christmas,” a slight Los Angeles Children’s Theatre effort at Los Angeles City College.

Santa is shrewd. He doesn’t raise wages, instead he promises a wacky fairy her wings if she can infuse the elves with holiday spirit and make them want to work.

Directed by Ruben Garfias, the elves--Hideaki Imai, Laura Seasongood, Paulene Smith and Archie Tobias--tumble, clown and mug with obvious relish, while quirky Pamela Tretter’s Star is a rough and tough Christmas fairy.

Bits of Clement C. Moore’s classic poem “Twas the Night Before Christmas” are incorporated into the show, the audience joins in a caroling sing-along and Santa Claus (Walter Harrison) makes an appearance.

But the play is uneven. Loosely written by Patricia Gaul and Deanna McKinstry for very young children, it hangs together and amuses primarily due to the good-humored energy of its cast of adults.

The staging is disappointing. It has an unfinished, even messy look, surprising since the company did the play several times last year. The toy shop has little visual interest, the props are mundane and when snow “falls,” it’s thrown in clumsy fistfuls from behind the set.

The Los Angeles Children’s Theatre was formed in 1988 to provide “professional quality theater” for mainstream and economically or physically disadvantaged young audiences. It has provided theater to those groups, but quality, and proof of inspiring artistic vision are still in question.

The challenge the company needs may come in the spring when it mounts Doris Baizley’s sensitive, message drama “Guns.”

At the Camino Theatre, 855 N. Vermont Ave., Saturday at 10 a.m.; Sunday at 1 and 3:30 p.m.; Monday through next Friday at 7 p.m. and Dec. 23 at 10 a.m., 1 and 3:30 p.m. Tickets, $6.50-$9.50; (213) 469-6663.

‘Phantom Tollbooth’ at L.A. Valley College

Poor little Milo. Just about everything bores him, especially school and books. What’s the use of learning anyway?

In Norton Juster’s classic children’s novel “The Phantom Tollbooth,” a magical journey fires Milo’s thirst for knowledge. Little Broadway Productions’ staging of Susan Nanus’ adaptation of the novel at L.A. Valley College is respectful but uneven.

A mysterious turnstile tollbooth takes Milo (Rich Knighton) to the Lands Beyond--places such as Dictionopolis, the Doldrums, the Mountains of Ignorance and the Foothills of Confusion.

He’s given a mission--rescue the princesses Rhyme and Reason (Roxann Richards and Melissa Malone) and restore harmony to the kingdoms of words and numbers.

Milo is aided by Tock the Watch Dog (Sharon Ostreicher) and the Humbug (Mage White) and meets along the way Dr. Kakofonous A. Dischord (Phil Ward), the Demon of Insincerity, the wicked but repentant Which and a host of other eccentric characters.

The cast is not entirely up to the demands of Juster’s masterful wordplay--subtleties are lost in rushed lines and blurred articulation. Transitional scenes are often static as well. Director Marilyn Weitz seems to have taken a feast-or-famine approach--some scenes are full of visual and physical interest; others come up empty. (Jerry W. Abbitt did the cartoonish sets.)

But Weitz also designed the bright, whimsical costumes and she excels with padded capes and fantastic hats. The Dodecahedron’s head with 12 faces is delightful.

At 5800 Fulton Ave. in Van Nuys on Thursday at 11 a.m. and 1:15 p.m. and next Friday at 11 a.m. (other Valley College performances are sold out). Also at UCLA’s Wadsworth Theater Jan. 11 at 12:15 p.m. Under age 4 not admitted. Tickets, $6; (818) 990-3232.