‘Posada,’ in Its Fifth Season, Deserves a Visit

In its fifth season at South Coast Repertory, “La Posada Magica” is one of those Christmas perennials that one can return to, year after year, with the same sense of enjoyment.

Inspired by the Latin American tradition of las posadas--neighborhood Christmas processions that commemorate Mary and Joseph’s search for lodging--Octavio Solis’ musical play is so bighearted and endearing that one largely overlooks its structural deficiencies.

Solis’ lovable but flawed piece revolves around Gracie (Crissy Guerrero), a troubled 14-year-old girl dangerously embittered by the recent death of her baby brother. When a posada of folks from her Latin American community pays a call, Gracie hooks up with the procession, intending to blow out their candles--irritating symbols of her own lost faith--one by one.

Not that the spirit of Christmas is so easily extinguished. The evening turns magical, the metaphor real. Gracie succeeds in derailing the posada, then finds herself traveling back in time, anxiously seeking shelter for Josecruz (Armando Duran) and the pregnant Mariluz (Teresa Velarde). Or are they Joseph and Mary? And is this actually Bethlehem?

The play brims with home truths, human verities and a bracing sense of spiritual wonder. It is, however, short on craft. The eccentric neighbors that the posada encounters are rudely woven into the story, and Gracie’s character vacillates alarmingly between a sweet kid and a trouble-making brat. What, after all, motivates this sullen girl to join the posada in the first place? And why, in the penultimate graveyard scene, does Gracie suddenly decide to embrace life rather than darkness? Perhaps her conversion is prompted by the cumulative effect of her magical evening. But that one defining moment--that blinding epiphany that would make sudden sense of all the loss in Gracie’s young life--is missing here.

Yet it seems Grinch-like to pick on a holiday tradition, especially one this charming. Solis’ direction has all the sweep and spontaneity of a genuine posada. Marcos Loya’s original music includes a couple of numbers that deserve to become widely played Christmas standards. The head of a lively combo that plays throughout, Loya gives a Latin slant to familiar Christmas tunes as well. The Caribbean-inspired “Good King Wenceslas” is a stand-out.

Sweet-voiced Guerrero admirably fleshes out her confused character, Thom Rivera provides comic relief as a goofy Latino teen and Jorge Galvan invests the role of Horacio, the head of the posada and the story’s narrator, with stature and gentle wisdom.

BE THERE

“La Posada Magica,” South Coast Repertory’s Second Stage, Tuesdays through Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 3 and 8 p.m.; Sundays, 12:30 and 4:30 p.m.; Dec. 24 only, 12:30 and 4:30 p.m. Ends Dec. 27. $17 to $28. (714) 708-5555. Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes.