THEATER / SNEAK PEEK : `HELLO MUDDAH' CAMPING OUT IN BRENTWOOD.

The pond was full of 'gators. The counselors were more ornery than the critters. And it never, even once, stopped raining.

Welcome to ``Camp Granada,'' the mythical retreat that spelled pure torture for any kid doomed to spend the summer there.

Comic whiz kid Allan Sherman immortalized Camp Granada in a woefully witty song that takes the viewpoint of a decidedly unhappy camper writing home to his parents. Set to Ponchielli's ``Dance of the Hours'' from ``La Giocanda,'' the tune (``A Letter From Camp'') became a No. 1 pop hit and got turned into a cabaret show. Now the show has been turned into a full-length musical. It's newly arrived in Brentwood after a successful run last summer at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza.

``Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh!'' evokes not only the horrors of summer camp but the smart-aleck brilliance of Sherman, best-known as the brains behind the '50s television game show, ``I've Got a Secret.''

The eight-week engagement is at the new 500-seat Brentwood Theatre, located in Building 211 on the Veterans Administration grounds, 11301 Wilshire Blvd. at the San Diego Freeway (405). For tickets, call [phone].

`Mambo' dearest: Though it's smaller and stickier, the city of Miami has plenty in common with our own Los Angeles. Culture Clash, the nation's premier Chicano comedy ensemble, has noted the similarities. You may, too, after seeing the group's award-winning performance, ``Radio Mambo: Culture Clash Invades Miami.''

Based on dozens of interviews with Miami residents, this seriocomic revue plays at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Harriet & Charles Luckman Fine Arts Complex at California State University, Los Angeles, 5151 State University Drive, near the junction of the Long Beach (710) and San Bernardino (10) freeways.

Tickets are $25 and $30. Call [phone] for information and tickets.

Grand hotel: For the past 30 years, Neil Simon has been Broadway's sure thing.

No wonder the Valley's only live dinner theater is opening its 1997 season tonight with ``Plaza Suite,'' Simon's depiction of the comings and goings at a New York City hotel in the 1960s.

The Granada Theatre production runs through March 23, with performances at 8 p.m. Thursdays; dinner shows at 8 p.m. Fridays, 7 p.m. Saturdays and 5:30 p.m. Sundays; and an 11:15 a.m. Sunday brunch show. The theater is at 18167 Chatsworth St. in Granada Hills. Tickets are $16 to $29. For reservations, call [phone].

A class act: Laura Gardner, whose credits include Broadway, film and television appearances, will teach five- and 10-week classes beginning this week on improvisation, scene study and audition technique at North Hollywood's the Road Theatre, 5108 Lankershim Blvd. in the Lankershim Arts Center.

Classes will be held from 3 to 5:30 p.m. Tuesdays. Registration is $35 for five weeks and $65 for 10 weeks for North Hollywood residents. Limited scholarships are available for actors with disabilities; enrollment also is available to non-NoHo residents. To register, call [phone].

Killed him a bear: Lane Davies, the versatile artistic director of Santa Susana Repertory Company, will take the stage in a solo tribute to America's scrappiest, folksiest hero this side of John Wayne: Davy Crockett.

Davies, currently appearing in a recurring role as a psychopathic time traveler on ABC's ``Lois & Clark - The New Adventures of Superman,'' will portray the fighter/frontiersman/congressman at 8:30 p.m. Feb. 7 and 8 at the Forum Theatre of the Thousand Oaks Civic Plaza, 2100 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd. Tickets for ``Crockett, by himself'' are $20; $16 for current SSRC members. Call [phone].

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Photo

Photo: Leslie Klein and Jim Doughan star in ``Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh!'' at the new Brentwood Theatre.