Tuneful ‘Scrooge’ : Apex Playhouse stages a musical version of the Dickens classic. Its message of hope is intact.

For readers, there’s “A Christmas Carol.” For musical-theatergoers, there’s “Scrooge.”

“In this day and age, and especially around Christmas, people need stories of hope,” says actor-director Michael Lever, 31, whose staging of the Dickens holiday classic is currently running at the Apex Playhouse.

Adapted by composer Leslie Bricusse, “Scrooge”--this is the musical version filmed for the screen in 1970 with Albert Finney and Alec Guinness--has a cast of 22 performers, including 10 children ages 6 to 16.

“People get tired of watching the news, all the stories of killing and robberies,” Lever says. “You want to go somewhere and feel good--not in a mindless way--but see a story about how dreams can be fulfilled, how there’s still a chance, that it’s never too late.”

The tale of miserly Ebenezer Scrooge learning the error of his ways and reconciling with his family “always gets me a little weepy at the end,” Lever admits. “I think it touches everyone on a human level.”

Lucy Record, who twice before has choreographed productions of “Scrooge” at the Sierra Madre Playhouse, is reprising those duties here.

“Every two minutes, a song and dance breaks out,” says Record, whose own daughter, 10-year-old Elizabeth, is a cast member. “The dance style is musical theater: simple, energetic and real peppy. My theory is that clean and neat is better than fancy and sloppy.”

“The children are very energetic, eager to please, giving 110%,” says Lever, a Philadelphia native who himself sang in a boy’s choir for 13 years. “But it is a challenge to corral them. It’s Christmastime, and they’re all wound up anyway.”

Although he had worked with children in high school productions in the East, this is Lever’s first professional directing job. “I’ve worked as an actor, choreographer, stage manager, assisted everyone under the sun,” he says. “So hopefully, I’m bringing all the things I’ve learned.”

Lever and Record are part of the nucleus that formed Peak Productions last summer, moving into the space vacated by the Golden Theatre.

“We had performed in various productions all over the Valley and city,” explains Lever, “and we were tired of doing it for other people . . . .”

Within this group, he says, “everyone pitches in: acting, directing, building sets, running concessions, cleaning up after performances.”

So far, says Lever, response to the new group has been “surprisingly good.”

As for the choice of the Apex Playhouse name, Lever--who works by day as a publicity director at MCA Television--acknowledges both prosaic and practical concerns. “We hope to strive for the best, the peak,” he says. “Also, if we’re listed alphabetically in theater directories, we’re right at the top.”

WHERE AND WHEN

What: “Scrooge.”

Location: Apex Playhouse, 139 N. San Fernando Blvd., Burbank.

Hours: 8 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, 2:30 Saturday and Sunday. Ends Dec. 19.

Price: $7.50 children, $9 seniors, $10 adults; discounts for groups.

Call: (818) 566-PEAK.