HOLIDAY THEATER REVIEWS : Maidens, Marley & Memories : Odyssey’s Offering Exalts Human Spirit

The Odyssey Theatre has created a stirring odyssey for the company’s first holiday show. “The Snow Maiden” is not simply an adaptation of a classic Russian folk tale. It’s a saga that inventively spans decades and oceans.

The script, by director Debbie Devine and Jay McAdams, follows the turbulent life of Anna Petrovich (Cheryl Crabtree), told as a flashback from an American retirement home in 1993.

Born a Russian Jew, Anna hears the story of the snow maiden from her parents shortly before they’re abducted by Cossacks. She flees to China, where she learns how to take pictures. Upon her return to the newly formed Soviet Union, she becomes an ace government photographer, only to be lured to Paris by Life magazine.

She shoots objects, not people. But her friendship with a fellow Jew as the Nazis advance gradually allows her to come to terms with the loss of her parents so many years earlier.

It qualifies as a holiday show not only because of decorated saguaros at the American retirement home and a Hanukkah celebration in the Russian chapter, but also because it champions the human spirit even as it depicts the human tragedy. Devine, composer Richard Allen, choreographer Maureen Kennedy Samuels and the designers have worked wonders, presenting this vast adventure in a small space and in a trim 90 minutes with a variety of far-flung theatrical devices.

* “The Snow Maiden,” Odyssey Theatre, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., West Los Angeles. Thursdays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 and 7:30 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m.; Dec. 21 and 22, 8 p.m. No performances Dec. 25-26. Ends Dec. 30. $10. (310) 477-2055. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes. This selection of holiday stage reviews is by The Times ‘ theater writers.