STAGE REVIEW : Lamb’s Troupe Provides Wonders in Flawed ‘Alice’ : The ensemble company takes Elizabeth Swados’ dreamy, meandering route through the Looking-Glass and makes it entertaining.

The journeys of Alice in Wonderland and through the Looking-Glass have gotten curiouser and curiouser over the past century--at least as the books by the Rev. Charles Dodgson (better known as Lewis Carroll) have been refracted through the eyes of stage and film directors.

Disney had fun with his animated version in 1951; Andre Gregory took a dark approach in his 1970 stage production. Elizabeth Swados’ “Alice in Concert,” written in 1980 and now in a West Coast premiere at Lamb’s Players Theatre, takes a dreamy, meandering route. Swados melded the two Alice books together, all spiced up with jazzy rock ‘n’ roll elements, for a New York Shakespeare Festival production that starred Meryl Streep.

Despite raves for Streep, the show died quickly on Broadway and hasn’t been produced much since. It’s easy to see why. The slow, sometimes melodramatic tone is all wrong for what should be a merry, irreverent romp through the land mines of everyday illogic carried to comically absurd yet always recognizable extremes.

Besides, you have to know and love the Alice books pretty well to appreciate what is essentially Swados’ reverie on them. As an introduction to Wonderland, this is sure to confuse and disappoint.

Still, Lamb’s Players Theatre--one of the country’s few true ensemble companies, with actors on year-round staff--does remarkable work with Swados’ flawed piece.

Under the skillful direction of associate director Deborah Gilmour Smyth, a cast of 10 fine performers creates more than 20 distinctive, memorable characters. In addition, these same actors do everything from carrying the Mad Hatter’s tea party on their backs to playing the nimble feet of a caterpillar (Nathan Peirson) and prancing around as all the king’s horses and all the king’s men who couldn’t put Humpty together again.

Sarah Zimmerman, 17, brings a lovely voice and lively charm to Alice. Leigh Scarritt segues impeccably from the harried White Rabbit to the imperious Red Queen. Mark Jobson sings and dances well in a variety of roles, and Damon Bryant and Fred Rush bring much-needed comic relief as Tweedledee and Tweedledum.

Veronica Murphy, who plays the Duchess and the White Queen, also has done inspired work with the costumes--dressing the ensemble in black-and-white patterns and in colorful hats and jackets for the character roles. Mike Buckley designed the bare black-and-white set with two raised platforms. On-stage musicians Jason DeBord, Todd Pyke, Richard Tibbitts and Chris Vitas bring out the best in Swados’ eclectic potpourri of musical styles.

It may not be Wonderland, but there are wonders along the way.

* “Alice in Concert,” Lamb’s Players Theatre, 500 Plaza Blvd., National City, San Diego. Wednesdays-Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays-Saturdays at 8 p.m., Saturday-Sunday matinees at 2. Ends July 24. $16-$20. (619) 474-4542. Running time: 2 hours, 14 minutes. Sarah Zimmerman: Alice Leigh Scarritt: Rabbit, Red Queen Jeanne Reith: Edith, Baby Kathi Gibbs: Mother, Queen, Mock Turtle Mark Jobson: Bill, Mad Hatter, Unicorn Nathan Peirson: Caterpillar, White Knight Veronica Murphy: Duchess, White Queen Damon Bryant: Cheshire Cat, Tweedledee Fred Rush: March Hare, Tweedledum Chrissy Vogele: Dormouse, Humpty Dumpty A Lamb’s Players Theatre production. Book, music and lyrics by Elizabeth Swados. Directed and choreographed by Deborah Gilmour Smyth. Sets: Mike Buckley. Costumes: Veronica Murphy. Lights: Lawrence Oberman. Stage manager: Doug Kalal.