HOLIDAY THEATER REVIEWS : Way Off Broadway’s Likable ‘Greetings’

The theme of Way Off Broadway’s Christmas play, “Greetings,” is a familiar one: Thanks to the intervention of a knowing and superior spirit, a troubled humanity recognizes the triumphant joy of living, where once it saw only empty failure.

Such tried-and-true holiday classics as “A Christmas Carol” and “It’s a Wonderful Life” have generated plenty of warm tears and cold cash with this formula. Playwright Tom Dudzick may be bound for a similar harvest: On Dec. 13, a production of “Greetings” will open not-so-way-off-Broadway, at the Houseman Theatre on 42nd Street in New York City. Meanwhile, in Santa Ana, “Greetings” is very likable indeed.

Dudzick has refitted tradition with New Age sensibilities. His wise, otherworldly guide is an advanced spirit called Lucius, who has no physical body of his own, so he uses someone else’s to channel himself into the action around the Gorski family Christmas tree in Pittsburgh. It seems that Phil, the Gorski family patriarch, is having a lot of trouble getting into the holiday spirit. . . .

Director Tony Reverditto sure-handedly captures both the humor and the pathos of Dudzick’s solidly crafted script. The acting company is uniformly fine, with a standout performance by David Alan Nelson as Mickey, the younger Gorski son who is mentally impaired.

Reverditto categorizes “Greetings” as “a family show,” and sure enough, it has the heart and the humor needed to make an enjoyable evening for any assortment of humanity, troubled or otherwise.

* “Greetings” continues through Dec. 19 at the Way Off Broadway Playhouse, 1058 E. 1st St., Santa Ana. Curtain times: 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2:30 p.m. Sundays. Tickets: $13.50 ($1 off if a canned good is brought in for the Laguna disaster relief fund). Information: (714) 547-8997.