On Theater:

For local theatergoers, it’s time to trim the tree and break out the holly. Their Christmas season officially starts this weekend.

That’s when three Costa Mesa theater groups bring up the lights on their holiday shows, highlighted by the 30th annual production of “A Christmas Carol” at South Coast Repertory.

Two collegiate theater programs join the merriment as Orange Coast College stages its annual “Old-Fashioned Christmas Melodrama and Ice Cream Social” and Vanguard University mounts the comedic “Inspecting Carol.”

At South Coast Rep, Director John-David Keller and actor Hal Landon Jr. will be doing what they’ve been doing each Christmas season since 1980.

Landon, the quintessential Ebenezer Scrooge, has missed only three performances in the past 29 years, while Keller has directed them all and appeared in most of them.

Joining Landon in this annual retelling of the classic Charles Dickens story will be Richard Doyle and Art Koustik, a pair of repertory founding artists who’ll play the Spirit of Christmas Past and Joe the cider-dispensing street fence, respectively.

Daniel Blinkoff returns as Bob Cratchit, with Jennifer Parsons, Karen Hensel, Timothy Landfield and Tom Shelton filling other major roles.

“A Christmas Carol” opens tonight and runs through Dec. 26 on the repertory’s Segerstrom Stage.

Call the box office at (714) 708-5555 for ticket information.

Another tradition, though of more recent vintage, is OCC’s annual “Christmas Melodrama and Ice Cream Social,” running this weekend and next at OCC’s Drama Lab Theater.

This year the main bill of fare is “Fast Train to the Poorhouse,” written by faculty member David Scaglione, who also designs the setting and serves as emcee for the vaudeville portion of the show. Theater arts professor Rick Golson directs.

The show will be presented at 7 p.m. Fridays and 2:30 and 7 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through Dec. 13.

Tickets may be ordered at (714) 432-6880.

Christmas and comedy combine in Daniel Sullivan’s “Inspecting Carol,” also in production this weekend and next. Marianne Savell is directing.

“‘Inspecting Carol’ was the last of 10 comedies that I was considering for this year’s season and I just wanted to read a script that would make me laugh out loud,” said Susan Berkompas, who chairs the theater arts department. “I read the first two pages and was laughing out loud. This is a great, fun and farcical show for the Christmas season.”

The play is set in a cash-strapped Midwestern regional theater, where “A Christmas Carol” is staged every winter. The thespians attempt to convince a government inspector that the company deserves government arts funding, leading to wild and wacky consequences.

Curtain time is 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays through Dec. 13. Tickets may be purchased at www.vanguardtickets.com or by calling the Vanguard University theater department box office at (714) 668-6145.

TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Daily Pilot. His reviews appear Fridays.