CHILDREN’S THEATER REVIEWS : Laguna Youth Crosses Delicate ‘Bridge to Terebithia’ : Original music and a sensitive story support sincere performances by the 12-year-old leads in the young production at the Moulton Theatre.

The Laguna Youth Theatre’s production of “Bridge to Terebithia” is effective because of the sensitive script by Katherine Paterson and Stephanie Toland, delicate original songs and a sincere performance by Justin Morgan, the 12-year-old lead. However, it is a younger and much less shaded production than the Serendipity Theatre Company’s mature, multilayered Southland premiere of the piece, at the Coronet Theatre in Los Angeles last fall.

In the Laguna Beach production of this ‘70s-era drama, adapted from Paterson’s stunning novel about loss and self-discovery, Morgan is Jesse Aarons, the son of a hard-working farm couple (played too benignly by Rita Butler and James Harris). Jesse loves to run and to draw, but his dreams are limited by his family’s hard life.

Then free-spirit Leslie Burke (Sara Buskirk, also 12) moves in next door and introduces Jesse to creativity, play and imagination in a quiet, woodsy retreat that she reinvents as the fantasy kingdom of Terebithia. There they rule as king and queen, whenever they can escape from school, chores and Jesse’s little sister, May Belle (Adrienne Tygenhof).

When tragedy strikes, an angry and grief-stricken Jesse must decide whether he will follow his new dreams or surrender to his old limitations.

Buskirk, who otherwise rushes her lines, gets close to Leslie’s optimistic ebullience while singing Steve Liebman’s evocative songs about “makers of magic, keepers of dreams.” She and Morgan share a lovely duet that compares life to “a dandelion . . . one puff can blow it all away.” Morgan, self-possessed and thoughtful, gives Jesse some unexpected depth.

Director Joe Lauderdale plays it too safe by taking the sharp edges off Paterson’s frankly imperfect characters and by making the moment of Leslie’s death too soft, but he guides his child actors carefully and makes skillful use of Dwight Richard Odle’s deceptively simple multilevel set. R. Timothy Osborn’s versatile lights contribute to the polished look of the show.

* “Bridge to Terebithia” continues at the Moulton Theatre, 606 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach, today at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday at 2 and 7:30 p.m.; and Sunday at 2 p.m. (the Sunday performance is sold out). Not suitable for preschoolers. $6-$9. (714) 494-8021.