Heartwarming SCR Musical

Now in its fifth season at South Coast Repertory, “La Posada Magica” is a tradition one could return to, year after year, with the same sense of enjoyment. Inspired by the Latin American tradition of las posadas--neighborhood processions commemorating Mary and Joseph’s search for lodging--Octavio Solis’ musical play is so bighearted and endearing that one largely overlooks its structural deficiencies.

The 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 procession, then finds herself traveling back in time, anxiously seeking shelter for Josecruz (Armando Duran and the pregnant Mariluz (Teresa Velarde). Or is it Joseph and Mary? 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 group encounters en route are rudely crudely woven into the story, and Gracie’s character vacillates alarmingly between a sweet kid and a troublemaking brat.

What 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--a blinding epiphany that would make sudden sense of Gracie’s loss--is missing.

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

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.

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* “La Posada Magica,”

South Coast Repertory’s Second Stage, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. 8 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 3 & 8 p.m. Saturday, 12:30 & 4:30 p.m. Sunday and Dec. 24. $17-$28. Ends Dec. 27. (714) 708-5555. Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes.

Jorge Galvan: Horacio

Crissy Guerrero: Gracie

Benito Martinez: Eli/Lauro/Bones

Teresa Velarde: Mom/Mariluz

Armando Duran: Papi/Josecruz

Thom Rivera: Refugio/Buzzard

Denise Blasor: Consuelo/Widow

Yolanda Lloyd Delgado: Caridad/Widow

Marcos Loya: Musician/Ensemble

Lorenzo Martinez: Musician/Ensemble

A South Coast Repertory production of Octavio Solis’ play. Directed by Solis. Music by Marcos Loya. Scenic designer: Cliff Faulkner. Costume designer: Shigeru Yaji. Lighting desigerer: Lonnie Rafael Alcaraz. Musical director: Marcos Loya. Choregrapher: Linda Kostalik. Production manager: Jeff Gifford. Stage manager: Randall K. Lum.