THEATER REVIEWS : Holiday Classics in a New Light : The original ‘Nutcracker’ tale gets a Dali-esque spin and ‘Christmas Carol’ is reproduced as a British-style parody.

In the midst of that perennial onslaught of “The Nutcracker” and “A Christmas Carol” revivals, it’s refreshing to see adventurous new spins on familiar material--which are downright exhilarating when they succeed.

Two wildly different but satisfying cases in point: Lit Moon Theatre Company’s avant garde adaptation of “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King,” the original Ernst Hoffman tale that inspired the famous Tchaikovsky/Petipa ballet, and Ensemble Theatre Company’s riotous parody of British-style community theater in “The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen’s Guild Dramatic Society’s Production of A Christmas Carol!”

Lit Moon’s staging of the little-known Hoffman story as a drama with musical embellishment takes on a darker, more philosophical tone than the sugar-frosted ballet.

Here, the fluid borders between dreams, waking life and imagination are constantly shifting in the quintessentially German Romantic-era adventures of young Marie (Shana M. Lynch), who gets drawn into the realm of the mechanical toys created by her godfather, Drosselmeier, a mysterious clockmaker (played by various members of the ensemble at different periods in his life).

Among the exotic characters Marie encounters is the Nutcracker in the shape of a toy soldier (Matthew Tavianini), who turns out to be the clockmaker’s nephew placed under a curse by the sinister Mouse King (Victoria Finlayson). Stan Hoffman and Michael Loring Andrews round out the cast in various roles.

To get the proper effect, picture a trip to Chuck E. Cheese as envisioned by Salvador Dali. Wildly imaginative masks and costumes by Lesley Finlayson, and a surreal set by Theodore Michael Dolas situate the wide-roaming plot in multiple overlapping realities. Just keeping track of where we are at any given moment is a challenging proposition--and sometimes a losing one, for Hoffman’s enthusiasm for ambiguity is clearly shared by the show’s adapter and director, John Blondell.

Nevertheless, it’s an innovative and rewarding evening that puts Lit Moon’s signature style of movement and visual-based storytelling to good use.

While Lit Moon engages us with a dazzling puzzle box, the Ensemble Theatre Company aims right for the funny bone with the return engagement of those bickering matrons from the Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen’s Guild Dramatic Society as they attempt to stage their disastrously bad production of “A Christmas Carol.”

“Christmas Carol” is the most accessible of the satirical series by David McGillivray and Walter Zerlin Jr. in which the feuding biddies mangle the classics, Monty Python-style.

When the doomed production’s co-director Phoebe Reece (Emma Jane Huerta), steps onto the stage to introduce the piece, we sense somehow that something’s wrong. Maybe it’s her offhand query, “This is just a shot in the dark, but has anyone in the audience ever played Scrooge?”

Fortunately, the delayed performers arrive before Phoebe’s time-killing banter has worn out its welcome. All the members of the 1992 ensemble cast reprise their roles--Gretchen Evans as the imperious thespian playing Scrooge, Cherilyn Milton as the well-meaning ditz, Nancy Nufer as the plucky victim of a shopping cart pileup whose neck brace and cane somewhat hamper her sprightly roles, and Christopher Vore as the dour, bespectacled stage manager unwillingly drafted into some of the supporting parts.

If anything, the results are funnier than before. As the cast executes split-second timing under the assured guidance of director Robert Grande-Weiss, the polish of well-rehearsed routines is evident.

The best scene is the one whose snappy dialogue is between Evans, her head poking through a painted prop of Scrooge in bed, and Vore, still stuck in the door from his previous appearance as the ghostly apparition in the knocker. When she asks if he can sit down, we can well appreciate his ad-lib, “I prefer to stand, actually.”

As before, TFAHETWGDSPACC (as it’s affectionately known to the group’s friends and family) is a welcome pay-back for the ghosts of Christmas plays we’ve all had to endure.

Details

“The Nutcracker and the Mouse King”

* WHEN: Through Dec. 18, 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays.

* WHERE: Westmont College Porter Theatre in Montecito.

* HOW MUCH: $14.

* CALL: For reservations or further information, (805) 654-7088.

“A Christmas Carol”

* WHEN: Through Dec. 31, 8 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays.

* WHERE: Alhecama Theatre, 914 Santa Barbara St., Santa Barbara.

* HOW MUCH: $14.

* CALL: For reservations or further information, (805) 965-5322.