"'Tis the season to be dolly," according to "Babes in Toyland" villain Barnaby as he goes about turning kids into Christmas dolls.

On Nov. 22, the Dartmouth High School Theatre Company gathered for their first run-through of “Babes in Toyland.”

With just days before the premier on the evening of Thursday, Dec. 3 at 7 p.m., it was all about “ironing out the kinks,” said co-director Shirley Guerreiro, now on her fourth production with the school.

Dartmouth staffers hold their students to a high standard of excellence, so she and co-director Dennis Lawrence Jr. allowed the students to run through their lines with little interruption, only giving input here and there.

The classic Christmas story takes place in Mother Goose land, which is imperiled by the miserly Barnaby, played by Emma Clune.

Barnaby seeks to steal his nephew Alan’s inheritance to become to most wealthy man in Mother Gooseland. On the way, various fairytale characters make appearances, like the Mary Contrary, who travels to Toyland to find help, and the Widow Piper, played by Elisabeth Ripley, and her 14 children, who meet their unfortunate ends by the hands of Barnaby’s mysterious machine that turns people into toys.

It seems that Santa is the only one who can help stop Barnaby, but it turns out that Santa himself has a dark secret.

The theater program has been growing in popularity and even elementary school students were included in the production as dormant toys, Mother Goose’s children, spiders, gypsies and a number of other bit parts.

Dartmouth’s rendition of “Babes in Toyland” incorporates prepared music, dance numbers and even a ballet solo that musters the spirit of Christmas.

After Thanksgiving will be their crunch time said Guerreiro. Production week will kick off when the set and costumes will be assembled for their performance runs.

“Babes in Toyland” will run from Dec. 3, 4 and 5 at Dartmouth High School at 7 p.m. On Dec. 6, there will be an extra showing at 2 p.m.