HOLIDAY STAGE REVIEWS : Crossley Theatre’s ‘Carol’ a Beaut

Doris Baizley’s version of “A Christmas Carol,” which she adapted for the Mark Taper Forum’s Improvisational Theatre Project in the ‘70s, is back with a bang, in at least three current productions in Los Angeles County alone.

The most centrally located of these is the Actors Co-Op production at the Crossley Theatre in Hollywood. It’s a beaut.

Baizley depicted a band of traveling players doing their own version of “A Christmas Carol” out of a trunk. But when the actors playing Scrooge and Tiny Tim leave the troupe, who’ll get their parts? Why, the querulous stage manager (Tim Farmer) is grumpy enough to play Scrooge, and his much-chided assistant (Cari James) gets her big break as Tiny Tim.

So an extra layer of transformation takes place inside the double characters. And the commedia -like setting brings with it a variety of colorful masks and costumes, clever but simple effects, snatches of circus acts and dancing, and a beautiful round of caroling accompanied by hand-held chimes.

This production revives the original Taper score, by Susan Seamans. Alan Johnson directed.

* “A Christmas Carol,” Actors Co-Op at the Crossley Theatre, 1760 Gower Ave., Hollywood. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2:30 p.m. Ends Dec. 20. $12. (213) 964-3586. Running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes.