HOLIDAY STAGE REVIEWS : ‘Aladdin’ Full of Chintzy Nuttiness

Poor Aladdin. As if he doesn’t already have enough trouble from sword-wielding viziers. Now his image is getting a workover. Disney’s “Aladdin” is turning him into a cartoon and a silly little spoof at Theatre 40--”Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp”--has him played by . . . a woman?

In Theatre 40’s holiday panto--or bawdy British-inspired lampoon--Barbara Keegan makes him the sane, winning center of a lot of chintzy nuttiness.

The chintzier, the better: that’s director and panto veteran Bruce Gray’s dictum here and, generally, it works. While Roberto Tani doesn’t scrimp with his funny costumes (the Genie looks like Mr. Scrubbing Bubble), the show has the right thrown-together feel, for all of its groaner lines.

It’s a close call whether Aladdin will be done in by evil magician Abanazar (Thom Keane-Koutsoukos) and Lola Fisher’s mock-icy Sultana or the puns in the script by Gray, Ross, Carla Conway and Beth Martin Brown. Though Sunday’s audience didn’t seem to know its job (talk back and groan at will), the actors know theirs.

* “Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp,” Theatre 40, 241 Moreno Drive, Beverly Hills High School. Tuesdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 and 8 p.m. Ends Dec. 20. $10; (213) 466-1767. Running time: 2 hours.