CLEVER 'CARROLLING' WILL LEAVE YOU WITH A CHESHIRE-CAT GRIN.

Byline: Katherine Karlin Correspondent

AS WE HEAD into the Christmas season, Lewis Carroll may not be the first author who comes to mind. Still, Carroll's spirit, which plays with the unsullied perspective of a child, is right for the holidays. And ``Carrolling,'' the celebration of the author's work at A Noise Within, might be just the thing to shake off the 70-degree days and get us into the yuletide mood.

Directed and constructed by Sabin Epstein, ``Carrolling'' is a revue that features familiar Carroll works, like ``Jabberwocky'' and ``The Lobster's Quadrille,'' along with some more obscure ones, loosely connected by a slight narrative about characters caught in a dream. The actors appear on a stage that looks like a giant chessboard - the women in wintry velvets and taffeta, the men in morning coats and cummerbunds - and as they take turns standing and sitting, their music stands grow and contract. We are definitely in the surrealistic world of Alice, of ``Wonderland'' fame.

Listening to a compilation of Carroll, we may be struck by how avant- garde he was. Carroll is all about the fickleness of language and the arbitrary nature of time; he operates in a twilight consciousness that questions the constructs we hold dear. He may be our first meta author. ``It's a poor sort of memory that only works backward,'' Queenie remarks; it's one of the many lines that has a more complex, even melancholy meaning now that we hear it in adulthood.

Ann Marie Lee, Michael McKenzie, Deborah Strang and Michael Vodde are the energetic cast, and each is indispensable. David O provides the musical accompaniment on piano and a diverse range of ancillary instruments.

The music for ``Carrolling'' is composed by Laura Karpman, and she weds her melodies to Carroll's words perfectly. From the achingly beautiful ``Lobster's Quadrille'' (``Will you, won't you?'') to a jazzy showcase for the White Queen (Queenie in this production) that somehow invokes both Peggy Lee and Cab Calloway, Karpman's music is invested with the same wonder as Carroll's writing, yet never once does it stoop to be ``children's music.''

Although ``Carrolling'' is being promoted as family entertainment, at one hour 20 minutes, and without a strong narrative arc, it may not hold the attention of any but the most mature children. On the other hand, you won't need to find a child as an excuse to see it.

CARROLLING - Three and one half stars

Where: A Noise Within, 234 S. Brand Blvd., Glendale.

When: 8 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday; through Sunday.

Tickets: $20 to $40. Call [phone].

In a nutshell: 'Twas Brilig.

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Clockwise from lower left, Michael Vodde, Ann Marie Lee, Michael McKenzie and Deborah Strang bring life to ``Carrolling,'' a revue of works by Lewis Carroll.