Ambition Pays Off : ‘Die Fledermaus’ gets a successful staging in Moorpark.

“Die Fledermaus,” by Johann Strauss II, is the latest in a series of ambitious musicals that faculty member Marilyn Anderson has been producing and directing at Moorpark College for 20 years.

Even though this production is in English, the plot is so convoluted that Dr. Falke (authoritatively played by Eric Sheeler) prepares the audience before the curtain rises: A friend has played a practical joke on Falke, and it’s now time for payback.

A number of victims are embarrassed, in addition to Falke’s target, Gabriel von Eisenstein. It all climaxes at a fancy ball, thrown by the fabulously wealthy Russian, Prince Orlofsky (Andrew Krigel).

Several key roles are double-cast, so some actors reviewed Saturday night may or may not be seen this weekend. Those include David Newton as the pompous Eisenstein; Dana Crooks as the fetching maid and would-be actress, Adele; and Carmen Recker as Adele’s sister, a social-climbing dancer. Present at every performance are Lynn Youngren as Falke’s haughty wife; Lance Taubold as her old boyfriend who has suddenly come back to town; Gabriel Vega as the town’s prison warden; and James Miller as a drunken jailer straight out of Shakespeare.

All are quite good, in a show where virtually all the main roles are comic.

* “Die Fledermaus” concludes Sunday at the Moorpark College Performing Arts Center on Collins Drive off the 118 Freeway. Performances are at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $10; $8 students and seniors, and $6 children under 12. Group rates are available. (805) 378-1485.

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“Alice” in Simi Valley: More than their last two shows--”You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” and “Once Upon a Mattress”--the Simi Valley-based ARTS Youth Ensemble production of “Alice in Wonderland” is a standard kids’ show. Jarrod Madrigal, a local writer, has taken the highly episodic book and turned it into the Greatest Moments of Lewis Carroll. Several songs (a few quite familiar) have been added, and director Jan Glasband has assembled a young cast of 32.

The actors work hard, but it’s difficult for young people to establish character. So the strongest performances are by the older actors--Holly Childers as Alice, Jeremy Cox as the Mad Hatter, Chadwick Pelletier as the Cheshire Cat (all over the place in this version), and Audrey Mathieu as the Queen of Hearts. Adding considerably are some quite clever costumes and masks.

* “Alice in Wonderland” closes Sunday at the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center, 3050 Los Angeles Ave. Performances are at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $12; $10 students and seniors, and $8 children 12 and under. (805) 581-9940. On April 18, the production moves to the Santa Paula Theater Center, 127 S. 7th St., for two weekends. Prices and performance schedules remain the same. (805) 525-4645.

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Casting Call: The Conejo Players will audition for their Conejo Afternoon Theatre production of Terrance McNally’s comedy “Lips Together, Teeth Apart” at 8 p.m. Sunday at the Players’ theater, 351 S. Moorpark Road in Thousand Oaks. For further information, call 449-2708 or (818) 706-3169.