A Moral Victory

Warming up to its new home at the restored Miles Memorial Playhouse in Santa Monica, and to its expanded ensemble, the children’s theater company Imagination Station is putting on one of its best shows yet, a delightful “Aesop’s Fables.”

Directed with assurance by ensemble member Jake Eberle and performed with flair and polish, this creative adaptation deftly weaves several familiar fables together and comes up with fast-paced, smart comedy that’s fun for adults as well as children.

The smooth-moving cast sets a comic tone from the outset, as each animal character introduces himself or herself to the audience, confiding habits, likes and dislikes, favorite books and movies.

The tales--”The Fox and the Grapes,” “The Fox and the Crow,” “The Lion and the Mouse,” “The Hare and the Tortoise,” “The City Mouse and the Country Mouse”--are interconnected, and everybody knows everybody else. Or if they don’t at first, they soon do: The Lion (Jesse Mackey) for instance, who becomes friends with the Country Mouse (Sara Plaisted) when she saves him from a hunter’s net, discovers that he can’t in good faith eat the City Mouse (Canon Wing), either, when she comes looking for her country cousin’s house.

All the animals gather and choose up sides when Hare (Carissa Barnet) races lumbering Tortoise (Jennifer Brandt). Fox (Kristine Mason) calls it, microphone in hand.

In the most elaborately staged part of the show, the mouse cousins visit New York and see the sights, from Broadway to jazz joints, the opera and ballet; when the haughty Cat (Barnet again) catches them by their long, long tails, the well-choreographed scene turns into a swing dance.

Indeed, movement is key to the show’s success, and the actors’ spirited performances are deepened by well-defined physicality reflecting the individual characteristics of their animal roles. Barnet’s lithe, graceful Cat is completely different from her athletic, aggressive Hare; Mason’s natty Fox radiates confidence with a flowing strut; and Wing’s streetwise, luxury-loving, quick-moving, Brooklyn-accented City Mouse is an absolute hoot.

The only points on the minus side are overly loud chase scenes--the overlapping yelling could be cut back--and the folding chair seating. The company is making plans to bring in chairs on risers to improve sight lines, a much needed change to match the spiffy restoration of the little theater.

A new sound system adds a quality dimension, and Michael James’ lighting design, which includes projections of woodsy silhouettes and the New York sites, is notably well done.

* “Aesop’s Fables,” Imagination Station, Miles Memorial Playhouse, Reed Park, 1130 Lincoln Blvd., Santa Monica, Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. Ends June 20. $6-$8. (310) 854-4196.