O.C. STAGE REVIEW : The Past’s Present in ‘Dream’ : Shakespeare Orange County’s holiday gift is a program of readings and music that recall what Christmas was.

There was a time when Christmas cards weren’t quite so mass produced. Nor was Christmas spirit quite so mass produced as it is today.

Shakespeare Orange County glances back into a gentler past and helps us recall what Christmas used to be. The company’s touching, buoyant, often very funny Yuletide greeting, at Chapman University’s Waltmar Theatre, has all the charm of one of those Victorian cards that almost included the scent of roasting chestnuts, glistening goose and the laughter of awe-struck children.

Director Thomas F. Bradac has put together a kaleidoscope of selections from Shakespeare up to E.E. Cummings’ “Little Tree,” from St. Luke up to Robert Frost. He even includes, in its entirety, little Virginia’s tremulous 1897 question to the editor of the New York Sun, and his memorable response beginning, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus . . . “ The latter is not read often enough.

It’s a relaxed evening, and the company, mostly in street clothes, some in costume, obviously has as much fun as the audience. The readings never took on the serious air they might have; the tone was kept light and breezy. The evening becomes particularly affecting when the actors abandon artifice and recall, some through journals, some seemingly ad lib, of their own Christmases past and what they meant.

A particularly memorable highlight is Dickens’ description of the journey of Mr. Pickwick and friends to their holiday revels, in which the carriage’s wheels are spinning umbrellas, and the travelers merrily ply each other with brandy to banish the cold and the very bumpy ride. It’s a little gem of directorial invention.

The carols interspersed are sometimes old favorites, but often obscure but potent in the simplicity of their style and sentiment. The cast voices--some trained, some not--are just right for their chores and the gentle bronzed patina of the little-known music. The blend of voices often sounds like holidays fast fading from memory, and their “obligatory” Christmas sing-along to “The Twelve Days of Christmas” might even put audience participation back in good repute.

In an era of shoddy, updated Scrooges and thieving Grinches, it’s pleasant to find a company that remembers what Christmas used to be like.

‘A Midwinter Night’s Dream’

A Shakespeare Orange County production. Directed by Thomas F. Bradac. With Michael Nehring, Elizabeth Norment, Carl Reggiardo, Kamella Tate, Craig Brown, Jolin Harrison, J. David Dahl, Kelleigh Holloway. Set: Craig Brown. Lighting: David Darwin. At the Waltmar Theatre, Chapman University, 333 N. Glassell St., Orange. Final performance tonight at 8. $15 to $20. (714) 744-7016. Running time: 1 hour, 40 minutes.