No ‘Child’s Christmas’ in Rolling Hills Estates Either : Theater: The Laguna Beach company that took control of the show from GroveShakespeare has canceled its production.

A Christmas theater tradition in Orange County has taken another beating.

High Octane Productions, the Laguna Beach entertainment company that earlier this year wrested control of “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” from GroveShakespeare here, has canceled its announced production at the Norris Theatre in Rolling Hills Estates.

“They backed out,” Peter Lesnick, managing director of the Norris, said Monday. “They were renting the theater for two weeks in mid-December. That’s prime time. They put down the deposit and booked the dates. We’ve had to scramble to fill them.”

Bradford C. Moseley, president of High Octane, could not be reached for comment.

“My understanding is that High Octane backed out because it couldn’t get the financing,” said Michelle Roberge, director of marketing and development for the Norris.

Chuck Estes, longtime musical director for “Child’s Christmas,” confirmed Monday that High Octane had dropped the production. “It’s not going to happen,” he said.

Last March, High Octane acquired the professional stage rights to the show, an Adrian Mitchell-Jeremy Brooks musical adaptation of the Dylan Thomas Christmas tale. It had been produced by GroveShakespeare as a Yuletide offering for the past seven years.

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Moseley said when he acquired the rights that he planned to produce the show at the Norris with many of the same actors and theater technicians who had done it for so long at the Grove.

The Grove was in such deep financial difficulty that it could not prevent Moseley from securing the rights, largely because it owed back royalties on “Child’s Christmas” and could not afford a deposit against future royalties.

The Grove, which had been the county’s second-largest professional theater company, collapsed in June and canceled its 1993 season.

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Estes, who had stayed on as a part-time employee until he was laid off two weeks ago, said the “Wales” cast hoped “to put together a story reading of some kind for one or two nights somewhere.”

Estes said a reading at the Grove’s Gem Theatre is unlikely because the Grove board recently turned down a request to hold a “Child’s Christmas” cast reunion party there.

Phone calls to the Gem went unanswered Monday.