SANTA CLAWS : Feline Holiday Fable Heals With Its ‘Magic of Dreaming’

Like the feline characters in her family musical, “Kitty Claws and the Magic of Dreaming,” Molly Hardy has a knack for landing on her feet.

The show was conceived three years ago by Hardy with help from her close friend and collaborator, Jim Boyer. When Boyer died in early 1991, the Laguna Niguel playwright was grief-stricken. It would be 10 months before she could resume work on the show. And when she did, she said, it was Boyer’s memory and the story’s uplifting theme that kept her going. Within a few weeks, she and her cast had developed the final script, created costumes and sets and premiered it at San Clemente’s Cabrillo Playhouse.

This Friday, Saturday and Sunday, performances will be held at the McKinney Theatre at Mission Viejo’s Saddleback College. From Dec. 4 through 12, the production moves to the Gem Theatre in Garden Grove.

The play’s message is one of hope in the face of adversity. But no matter how inspirational it may be, as Hardy describes it, “Kitty Claws” isn’t bogged down by sentiment.

The story is set on Christmas Eve in an animal shelter populated by some highly personable cats, ranging from Trixie, a Madonna wannabe with a heavy Brooklyn accent, to Ricco Corlione, a “sincerely insincere” lounge singer in sharkskin pants who is the story’s narrator. There’s also Dawg, a bass-playing Dalmatian, and Mr. Mean Guy, the black-hearted human who threatens to turn the whole lot into house-pet stew if they’re not adopted by Christmas Day.

The animals pin their hopes on Kitty Claws, a cool cat version of St. Nick who rewards their faith by producing a handful of cat-loving humans to adopt them. The musical, performed by 18 adults and a child, features such tunes as “Love Is What I Need” (an original ballad written for the show by Boyer) to “Trixie’s Song” (a torchy ode to easy living and fresh fish.)

“I think of it as a cartoon on stage . . . kind of like ‘Lady and the Tramp’ or maybe ‘Tiny Toons,’ ” explained Hardy, who has written “Heaven’s North of Here” (a much-produced play for young audiences about communication) and “Encore” (a play with music that was performed this summer in Irvine as part of the AIDS Walk event).

As it has been since its premiere, “Kitty Claws” is presented by Laguna Outreach Community Arts, a nonprofit coalition of visual and performing artists from the Sawdust Festival, the Festival of the Arts, the Laguna Moulton Theatre, South Coast Storytellers Guild and other community members. Other LOCA projects include low-cost art workshops and performances in schools, teachers’ seminars and a new resource directory designed to help educators find artists for in-school programs. (For a copy, call (714) 497-2797.)

Besides its public performances, “Kitty Claws” will be presented at three area schools during the holiday season. LOCA will also offer free admission to Friday’s performance for children who were victims of the Laguna fire. On Dec. 18, a private performance will benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation’s families and terminally ill children.

“It’s a perfect show for the Make-A-Wish kids,” Hardy said. “It says that no matter what your circumstances are, there’s hope. Hold on to your dreams, no matter what.”

That’s a thought Hardy recently had to keep in mind.

Ten days before “Kitty Claws” was to open at the Laguna Forum Theatre, a mudslide on the scorched hillside behind the theater rendered the space unusable. But Hardy wasn’t about to let the show she calls “her baby” slip through the cracks.

In two days, during a season when “Nutcrackers” and other holiday shows have booked virtually every performance space in the county, Hardy arranged alternate venues. McKinney officials gave her the space at no charge, while the Gem offered a reduced rent.

“It’s amazing,” Hardy said, “when catastrophe--to use a play on cat words--strikes, how people pull together.”