STAGE REVIEW : Holiday Stories Stuffed With Corn, Charm

Way Off Broadway’s “A Christmas Trilogy� is a little like a gift wrapped by a child--terribly rough around the edges but with enough holiday charm for many of the flaws to be overlooked, at least by someone high on the season’s spirit.

“Trilogy� is composed of three one-acts focusing on the joys of loving families giving selflessly and looking for the shining star in every storm. As befitting the season, they’re sweet and sentimental, moralistic and corny.

The best is easily “This Way to Christmas,� an unpretentious comedy that takes a somewhat cockeyed look at Santa during his early days when he was “a tall, lanky fellow before developing a fondness for sweets.�

Santa (played by the tall, lanky Tony Reverditto) helps a naughty elf (Ryan Byrne) get back in good with the King (Rich Flynn), a barking, bad-tempered guy beset by a shrewish wife (Gayle Byrne) and a goody-two-shoes daughter (Linda Klass). The slapstick in this one helps the sugar go down.

“Christmas at Home� is set in the 1940s and centers on the Burgess family as it prepares for the holidays. The sisters (Sara Garner, Linda Klass and Carrie Ysais) talk about boys and basically get in each other’s hair while Mom (Gayle Byrne) and Pop (Glen Flesher) fret over their son (Shawn Smith), who may or may not make it home for the big day. The family faces a dilemma when it learns how badly the neighbors are doing--should they pool their resources to help them or keep everything for themselves? They do the right thing, of course, and all the problems are resolved.

In “The Christmas Stranger,� another family is visited by an anonymous young man (Shawn Smith) who heals one daughter’s (Tara Lee Rex) limp, cures the mother’s (Ruth Harrison) bum arm and helps the other daughter (Meera Naras) with her romantic problems. He departs as mysteriously as he arrived.

Except for much of “This Way to Christmas,� the acting, although earnest, is pretty spotty throughout “A Christmas Trilogy.� The cast could have used more specific direction, particularly in the overall pacing. Only Pat Dolan, the director of “This Way to Christmas,� is able to achieve any comfortable rhythm.

But this is a Christmas show where the message may be more important than the medium. This production just might work for someone who is willing to greet it with the generosity and patience of the season.

“A CHRISTMAS TRILOGY� Way Off Broadway’s production of three one-act plays. Directed by Gayle Byrne, Pat Dolan and Tony Reverditto. With Meera Naras, Tara Lee Rex, Ruth Harrison, Shawn Smith, Ryan Byrne, Tony Reverditto, Rich Flynn, Linda Klass, Gayle Byrne, Rich Cummings, Sara Garner, Carrie Ysais and Glen Flesher. Plays at 2 and 8 p.m. today and Sunday at 1058 East 1st St., Santa Ana. Tickets: $10 for adults, $5 for children. (714) 547-8997.