‘Lion’: Flawed but It Works

In C. S. Lewis’ “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” four children enter the land of Narnia through a magical wardrobe, meet a lion king, fight an evil witch and become kings and queens themselves. It’s an epic of good and evil, death and resurrection.

Little Broadway Productions’ ambitious staging of Jules Tasca’s musical version is less epic. It opened Sunday at UCLA’s Wadsworth Theatre in West Los Angeles, prior to a week’s run at L.A. Valley College in Van Nuys.

Performances are superficial and musically unsure, but director Marilyn Weitz makes an admirable attempt to be true to the story’s tragic elements. There are battle scenes, bad guys and a sacrificial death with blood-red lighting.

Daniel Farmer’s set design of barren trees is eerie enough and Allison Bibicoff’s solitary dancing White Stag is an evocative touch--Ted Lin is the choreographer--although her thin leotard brings gender into question.

The story is compelling enough to make an impact on young audience members, judging from overheard post-show questions: “What was the ‘deeper magic’?” “Why did the witch kill Aslan?” “How did he come back alive?”

“The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” Los Angeles Valley College, 5800 Fulton Ave., Van Nuys, next Saturday , 1 p.m.; Dec. 26-28 , 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Ends Dec. 28. $8; (818) 990-3232; (800) LBP-TRIP. Running time: 1 hour, 15 minutes.