‘Mom’s Dad’ Closes Generation Gap

“My Mom’s Dad,” an unusual South Coast Repertory Educational Touring Production that will be presented free at South Coast Plaza this weekend, bridges the generation gap between age and youth by using a Vietnamese folk tale to bring an American girl and her grandfather together.

Maddie (Deanne Lorette) is angry when her parents bring her grandfather (Christopher Neiman) home to live. She resists his overtures of friendship, complaining to her friend James (Tim Bui) that her grandfather should be “in a place with people like him.”

James, who is close to his Vietnamese grandmother (Hisa Takakuwa), doesn’t share Maddie’s negative feelings. He gives her the translation of a folk story his grandmother told him, and Maddie finds herself living it, becoming an Asian princess who is haunted by the flute song of a humble fisherman (Dwight Richard Odle’s costumes are eye-pleasers).

The traditional Asian-style play-within-a-play, gracefully staged by director John-David Keller, with choreography by Diane Doyle, invites Maddie--and the audience--to appreciate the “river of time” that connects us all, and the young song that can live inside an old heart.

Written with care by Richard Hellesen, with Michael Silversher’s songs somewhat haphazardly performed by an otherwise engaging cast of youthful adults, the play does deliver its intended message of tolerance and understanding. But, however appealing the cast, it’s difficult not to wonder how much more powerful the message might have been if the roles of grandmother and grandfather were played by age-appropriate actors.

“My Mom’s Dad,” South Coast Plaza, Crystal Court, Costa Mesa, today and next Saturday, 2 p.m. Free. (714) 957-4033.

A New ‘Bridge’: The stage adaptation of “Bridge to Terebithia,” based on Katherine Paterson’s stunning novel about loss and self-discovery, has now seen two Southland incarnations.

The first was the Serendipity Theatre Company’s mature, multilayered production at the Coronet Theatre last fall. The second, presented by the Laguna Youth Theatre at the Moulton Theatre, is younger and much less shaded. Its effectiveness is due to the sensitive script by Paterson and Stephanie Toland, delicate original songs and a sincere performance by Justin Morgan, the 12-year-old lead.

In the ‘70s-era drama, 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.

But when tragedy strikes, a 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.

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,” Moulton Theatre, 606 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach, today, 2 and 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m. Not suitable for preschoolers. $6-$9; (714) 494-8021.