THEATER REVIEWS : A Breath of Fresh Air for Old ‘Scrooge’ : Yorba Linda’s humbugger is younger than expected. But the well-packaged production cannot overcome the musical’s biggest inherent flaw--the music.

A good Scrooge makes any “Christmas Carol” at least tolerable.

And a good Scrooge makes “Scrooge,” Leslie Bricusse’s musical version of Charles Dickens’ tale, at least worth caring about.

We don’t mean a nice Scrooge, but a Scrooge who can surprise. Considering how this is surely the most overdone, overcooked, overplayed Christmas show of all--in any of its guises--a surprising Scrooge may be one of the stage actor’s most insurmountable assignments.

The one good surprise about actor Chris Sands’ humbugging old man in Yorba Linda Civic Light Opera’s staging of Bricusse’s “Scrooge” is that he isn’t terribly old at all. Sands smartly avoids the mistake of adopting faux aches and pains and arched back and all the worst effects used by a younger actor playing an older character.

Sands generally knows what works and what doesn’t, and he and director Lara Teeter seem to have agreed that a younger Scrooge might not only be prudent, but also the most interesting thing that could be done to a painfully familiar story.

The result is a Scrooge, seen both in the gloomy present and when he’s given a tour by the Ghost of Christmas Past, who climbed success’s ladder at a young age, rejected the love of his fiancee Isabel (Heather Dickenson), and became mentally crotchety long before his body might give out.

Sands expresses Scrooge’s misanthropy and his eventual spiritual sea-change a lot more powerfully through the spoken words of Bricusse’s book than Bricusse’s songs. He falls short in all of them, but the songs aren’t much to hang onto in the first place.

*

After having written some truly delectable tunes with Anthony Newley for “Stop the World . . . I Want to Get Off” and soon after “Scrooge” with “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” Bricusse seems constrained and uninspired by “A Christmas Carol,” as if he’s as tired of it as the rest of us.

There’s none of the irony or depth of the Newley creations, and, in crucial tunes such as “You” (when Scrooge expresses his grief at lost love), there’s only bland pathos.

It sounded that way in the original film version starring Albert Finney, and it still does. Sands without the singing is a different enough Scrooge that a non-musical “Christmas Carol” would be the best use of his talents. One is tempted to apply that to the rest of the cast as well, except for jaunty Steve Glaudini, whose Tom leads the crowd in the show’s only notable tune, “Thank You Very Much.” This is Bricusse’s solid facsimile of a down-home music-hall tune, and Glaudini delivers the goods.

The rest of the singing is weak, or worse, supported by musical director Michel Hanlon’s strong piano. (Neither is helped by sound designer Brian Newell’s stage miking, which is quite unnecessary in such an intimate hall as the Yorba Linda Forum.)

Ken Sisco is an unimposing, flat-toned Christmas Present, and Dickenson can’t get her limited voice around the show’s only truly lyrical number, “Happiness.” A street crowd of kids jeering Scrooge as a nasty “Father Christmas” seems to have fun, but there are too many of them for choreographer Tim Kashani to deal with.

*

Kirby Hanlon’s Tiny Tim is the most genuine of the child actors, simply because he doesn’t feel rehearsed. Ryan Halihan’s Marley, on the other hand, seems too much like Tiny Tim--the ‘60s version--and unfortunately turns a menacing sentinel into a clown.

For a production with obviously less cash on hand than Scrooge would ever deem respectable, Dickens’ London world and the ghostly visitations are effective enough with Edward Huber’s moody lights and George De Land’s minimal design--a desk for Scrooge’s office, a canopy bed for Scrooge’s bedroom.

Nancy Dock’s costumes aren’t minimal at all, and a good display of Victoriana--lots of Yuletide color and poverty gray, contrasting with the black garb of four “coachmen” who menacingly change the set pieces.

Nice wrapping; if only there were a solid musical inside.

* “Scrooge,” Yorba Linda Forum, 4175 Fairmont Blvd., Yorba Linda. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. $12-$14. (714) 779-8591. Running time: 1 hour, 55 minutes. Chris Sands: Ebenezer Scrooge

David Frederick Fogg: Fred

Wesley Hunt: Bob Cratchit

Kirby Hanlon: Tiny Tim

Sarah Pfeifer: Kathy Cratchit

Steve Glaudini: Tom Jenkins

Ryan Halihan: Marley

D.D. Calhoun: Ghost of Christmas Past

Gordon Marhoefer: Fezziwig

Heather Dickenson: Isabel

Natalie May Carver: Ethel Cratchit

Ken Sisco: Ghost of Christmas Present

Justin Gjersvold: Peter Cratchit

A Yorba Linda Civic Light Opera production of Leslie Bricusse’s musical, adapted from Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” Directed by Lara Teeter. Music direction: Michel Hanlon. Set: George De Land. Costumes: Nancy Dock. Sound: Brian Newell. Lights: Edward Huber. Choreography: Tim Kashani.

Chris Pasles’ Music and Dance column resumes next week.