Some folks roast chestnuts for the holidays, others roast turkeys. In the new holiday musical, The Cry Pitch Carrolls, with a libretto by Ruth Margraff and music by Matthew Pierce, the whole world get roasted.

Engulfed by a nuclear winter, Cry Pitch is set in a Midwestern town inhabited solely by "widow creatures," bewitched by vague memories of Christmas and husbands past. That is, until, a mysterious visit from a mother and her troubled son sends this town into a post-apocalyptic fury.

This is the fourth collaboration between Margraff, Pierce and director Tim Maner, with previous effort including Seven, Vinyl Pressings, and the critically acclaimed Elektra Fugues.

Margraff has become a hot property of late, and is presently at work with Fred Ho (composer of Monkey at BAM ) with a new paparazzi/vampire opera commissioned by The Public Theatre, as well as an opera with rocker Nick Cave. Other plays by Margraff include: Centaur Battle of San Jacinto, Locket Arias, and The Wallpaper Psalm.

The cast of Cry Pitch includes Christina Campenella (Benita Canova, The Harlot's Progress), Culver Casson, Kimberly Gambino (Blithedale), Annette Houlinhan-Verdolino, and Darryl Gibson. Scenic and lighting design is by Allen Hahn, costume design is by Nancy Brous, with puppets by Symphonie Fantastique auteur, Basil Twist. Maner, a co-founder with Kristin Marting of Tiny Mythic Theatre, co founded the multi-theatre complex, HERE in 1993 with Barbara Busackino and Randy Rollison.

The Cry-Pitch Carrolls plays in repertory with Marting's Women of Orleans, Nov. 18 - Dec. 20. For tickets ($12) or more information, call (212) 647-0202.

-- By Sean McGrath