THEATER : Electronic Flaws Distort Crystal Cathedral Epic

Centuries ago, Rome had the spectacle of the Coliseum, where they fed Christians to the lions. Nowadays, Southern California has the spectacle of the Crystal Cathedral, where they feed miracles to the Christians.

“What you hear and see tonight is the staging of a historical truth. . . .” So we are assured by the canned voice of the Rev. Robert H. Schuller as a preamble to “The Glory of Easter,” which opened Friday and continues through April 21 at the cavernous, glass-walled church.

On the evidence of this show, Karl Marx was wrong when he claimed that religion is the opiate of the masses. Instead, it’s a theme park, with flying angels and laser beams, blinding flashes of lightning and angry thunder that alternately rumbles like an earthquake and cracks like a whip.

Nothing much has changed from last year’s “Glory” except some of the principal players. Producer-director Paul David Dunn’s conception remains as piously grandiose as ever--the theatrical equivalent of an epic movie by Cecil B. DeMille--replete with a colossal cast of nearly 200 people and a menagerie of horses, donkeys, lambs and a leashed tiger.

Jonathan Fuller returns in the role of Jesus, unstintingly beatific until he undergoes the agonies of a grimly realistic Crucifixion, when he is called upon to project spiritual as well as physical despair. Kim Criswell (of “Cats” fame) is back again as Mary the Mother with the show’s most human moments, brief though they are, and a soaring solo entitled “Because He Lives.”

For all the bravura spectacle--and partly because of the outsize staging--”The Glory of Easter” suffers from a major production flaw: disembodied voices. The miking makes it impossible to tell who is speaking much of the time, even with the help of a spotlight to focus attention on the main action.

When your eye finally catches up with your ear, you frequently lose the speaker again as the action shifts elsewhere across a vast distance to some other spot in the milling crowd. Ironically, this distraction invites you to close your eyes and simply listen, which is a little like going to the ballpark and not having a hotdog with all the trimmings.

If you do close your eyes, though, you’ll notice that “Glory” sounds like nothing so much as a small-scale radio drama. Minus the stage props, it could make a good companion to “The Green Hornet.”

‘THE GLORY OF EASTER’

A Crystal Cathedral production. Produced, directed and written by Paul David Dunn. With Jonathan Fuller, Kim Criswell, Daniel Bryan Cartmell, Edward A. Quiroga, Arthur C. Adler, Alan Coates, Debby Smith, Carl Reggiardo, Nevin Hedly, Robert Winley, Eric Waterhouse, Bodie Newcomb, Douglas Schoon. Assistant director Terry Larson. Set design by Charles Lisanby. Costumes by Richard Bostard. Lighting design by Perry Halford and Larson. Special effects by Rick Helgason. Flying effects by Peter Foy. Choreography by Dorie Lee Mattson. Musical direction by Johnnie Carl. Through April 21 at the Crystal Cathedral, 12141 Lewis St. (near Chapman Ave.), Garden Grove. Performances Tuesdays to Sundays at 6:30 and 8:30 p.m., except March 20 and 21 and April 17 and 18; additional performances April 7 and 13 at 10:30 p.m. Tickets: $14, $18 and $25 ($2 discount for children). Information: (714) 544-5679.