STAGE AND MUSIC REVIEWS : Christmas Is Coming : ‘An Evening of Magic’ Is a Holiday Package for Adults

Packaging can be deceptive, especially at this time of year. Huge boxes can be used as decoys. Tiny boxes don’t always mean jewels. And those flat, square shapes that look like record albums sometimes turn out to be calendars.

Such is the case at Garden Grove Community Theatre, where a pair of one-act plays have been packaged under the title “An Evening of Christmas Magic.” Those words may conjure up images of a cozy family show that is heavy on fantasy, sugarplums and ho-ho-ho’s.

Guess again.

These two contemporary one-acts deal with people making tough decisions and discovering a bit about themselves in the process, told in adult language and decidedly adult situations. The plots of both stories are linked to Christmas, but the holiday is incidental to the human drama. If you’re in the market for sugarplums, look elsewhere.

Don’t expect Christmas chestnuts, either. “Season’s Meeting” by Gary Glauber is a West Coast premiere, and “Magic Flowers” by William Sterritt (who also directs both plays) is an Orange County premiere. The approaches are fresh, even if the results are mixed.

“Season’s Meeting” pits three self-important young community council members against jolly old Jack, who has played Santa at the civic Christmas party for the past 40 years. The council has promised the role of Santa to a new resident--a rich businessman who is willing to bankroll a fancy dinner-dance for the community association. But first, someone has to break the news to Jack.

Glauber gets in some nice jabs at slick marketing practices that promote image over content. There is also neat comment on the health-and-fitness craze when the council members (Clint Richards, Maureen Pratt and Marc Bischoff) try to convince Jack that the youth of today won’t accept a fat Santa anymore. Unfortunately, the actor who plays Jack (Bill Ripper) isn’t fat (or even chubby), which blunts the point considerably.

But that’s not the only problem here. Logic takes a back seat on more than one occasion, particularly regarding the identity of one crucial character. The deliberative pacing works against the element of surprise in the script, and by the time the story springs its conclusion, the plot gimmick is simply played out.

The second half of the double bill, “Magic Flowers,” offers both surprise and spunk in its tale of unlikely romance. Ethel is a Scrooge when it comes to the holidays. Her cynicism is earned: She is a hard-boiled veteran of the dating game, living alone in Manhattan and writing advertising copy for a living. She stews while her vapid, handsome partner gets all the credit for her ideas.

She arrives home exhausted from work on Christmas Eve, bitterly resigned to spending the long night with a bottle of cheap burgundy and a frozen cheesecake. But when a door-to-door salesman talks her into buying a bunch of magic flowers, she sheds her cynicism long enough to make a wish for a Prince Charming to appear.

Prince Charming turns out to be Ralph, her slick partner from the ad agency. Bit by bit, he chips away at her hard shell, and romance wins out. But just when it looks as if this is going to be another rosy romantic fantasy, the story line reverses itself and lands with a thud in reality. In a refreshing twist, the magic spell is broken and the two are forced to confront their own insecurities and preconceptions.

The wisecracking introduction to Ethel through a belligerent phone conversation is an immediate attention-grabber, and the edgy patter that ricochets between Ethel and Ralph sustains the mood. Julie Quigg and Clint Richards make a likable odd couple, contributing two solid performances. This is one mismatch worth rooting for.

Just one quibble: No New Yorker worth her Bloomingdale’s charge card would open her door to a stranger, even on Christmas Eve. ‘EVENING OF CHRISTMAS MAGIC’

A Garden Grove Community Theatre production. “Season’s Meeting” by Gary Glauber; “Magic Flowers” by William Sterritt. Directed by William Sterritt. With Marc Bischoff, Bob Goff, Maureen Pratt, Julie Quigg, Clint Richards, Bill Ripper, Beverly Smith, William Sterritt and Nancy Williamson. Technical director Robb Judkins. Plays at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, with a 2:30 p.m. matinee Sunday. Closes Dec. 19. Tickets $4-$5. Eastgate Park, 12001 St. Mark St., Garden Grove; (714) 897-5122.