It’s a challenge for a church or...

It’s a challenge for a church or religious group to dramatize the Easter story with artful music and staging, plus costumes that don’t look like rummage sale bathrobes.

The Rev. Robert Schuller’s Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove has been able to pull it off for years in its “Glory of Easter” production. The musical presentation is good enough to be offered on pay-per-view cable television systems, including the Van Nuys-based United Artists Cable with five Easter weekend showings.

Two newer productions in the Los Angeles area are trying.

The third annual “Passion Play” of Shepherd of the Hills Church in Porter Ranch, working with a $38,550 budget and the donated time of professionals, opened Friday night with the first of five presentations.

Actor Roger Hall, who recently landed a lead role in a science fiction movie, plays Jesus, and the play’s director, the Rev. Patrick Moody, once an associate of actor Burt Reynolds, portrays the disciple Peter. Gail Bonine is Mary, Jesus’ mother, and Jeff Tolar plays Judas.

The 90-minute production, with a cast of nearly 90 people, continues with shows at 8 p.m. today, 3 p.m. Sunday, 8 p.m. Friday and 3 p.m. next Saturday. Tickets are $10 and $5, but are free for all elementary school students tonight and Sunday. Call (818) 831-9333 for information and ticket orders.

Another musical stage production, “The Third Day According to Peter,” will begin a four-performance run in Hollywood on Thursday. The contemporary musical is by Tom Fenholt, who plays Peter, and is an effort of American Musical Ministries, based in Long Beach.

Jesus is played by Jim Wootten, Mary Magdalene by Julie Prejean and Thomas by John Ross.

The musical will play at 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and next Saturday and at 3 p.m. Easter Sunday at the Complex Theatre, 6478 Santa Monica Blvd. Admission is free but an offering will be taken. Valet parking is available. Call Theatrix (213) 466-1767 to reserve seats.

PASSOVER

The eight-day Passover period, sometimes described as “the quintessential Jewish home celebration,” begins tonight with Seders, or ritual meals, recounting the biblical story of the exodus of Jews from Egypt.

The Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles made efforts to find homes where hosts would welcome recent immigrants from the former Soviet Union and Iran as well as people displaced by the Jan. 17 earthquake.

Second- and third-night Seders will be held Sunday and Monday at synagogues and other Jewish worship centers. “Chabad centers throughout the Southland will host public Seders on March 27 and 28,” said Rabbi Shimon Raichik of Chabad of Hancock Park.

In most cases, however, advance registration was required. The Long Beach Jewish Community Center will host two Seders Sunday evening--one for senior citizens and another for Russian families. A third Seder next Saturday is primarily for Jewish gays and lesbians and their families. Call (310) 426-7601 for information.

PALM SUNDAY

Palm Sunday, also known as Passion Sunday, will be observed by many churches with special music to usher in the week leading up to Easter.

* Pasadena’s Holliston United Methodist Church will open its Palm Sunday worship service at 10 a.m. with children bearing palm branches and singing ex-Beatle George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord,” but leaving out the part where the Hare Krishna chant replaces the refrains of “Hallelujah” in the song. During the service, Johann Sebastian Bach’s “O Sacred Head” will be performed by the Wight Boy’s Band and the Chancel Choir. Holliston is at 1305 E. Colorado Blvd., (818) 793-0685.

* At the Wayfarers Chapel in Rancho Palos Verdes, the 11 a.m. service will feature a portrayal of Jesus and his disciples having their last meal together. Those who attend the service will be served Communion as a part of the production. The chapel, an ecumenical ministry of the small Swedenborgian Church, will be open daily during the week for meditation and prayer. For information, call (310) 377-1650.

* In Orange County, the “Requiem” by Gabriel Faure will be performed by the choir, strings and organ at Mission Viejo’s Shepherd of the Hills United Methodist Church, 26001 Muirlands Blvd., at the 8:30 a.m. and 10:15 a.m. services. At 7 p.m. Sunday in Newport Beach, John Rutter’s “Requiem” will be performed at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, 600 St. Andrews Road, as part of a larger concert by choir and orchestra.

GOOD FRIDAY

* John G. Ouellet, recently named president of the Weingart Foundation, will address the 36th annual YMCA Good Friday Breakfast at the Westin Bonaventure in Downtown Los Angeles. More than 800 people are expected to attend the 8 a.m. event. Mayor Richard Riordan will offer the invocation and the Rev. Lloyd J. Ogilvie of Hollywood Presbyterian Church will read the Gospel stories of the Crucifixion and Resurrection. Ouellet joined the charitable foundation in February after 31 years with the YMCA. Breakfast tickets are $14. Call (213) 351-2224.

* Good Friday is also a traditional day of fasting for Christians. Participants in a “Walkathon Against Violence” next Saturday, sponsored principally by the large West Angeles Church of God in Christ, are urged to fast the day before from sunrise to 11:30 p.m.

The pastor, Bishop Charles Blake, said the walk will begin at 10:30 a.m. at First Church of God, 9550 Crenshaw Blvd., and proceed to West Angeles Church, 3045 Crenshaw Blvd., where an hourlong worship service will be held. Refreshments will be served along the route of the walk, which will include participants from dozens of urban churches. To join the observance, call Calvin Brown at (213) 733-8300, Ext. 213.

* Three minister-students from the School of Theology at Claremont will join a roster of Los Angeles inner-city pastors for an interdenominational noon service on Good Friday at Zion Hill Baptist Church, 7860 10th Ave. Preaching on the words attributed to Jesus on the cross in the New Testament Gospels will be the Rev. Orlando Love of Zion Hill Baptist and six other ministers.

* Among other special Good Friday services are “Mother of Sorrows,” an 8 p.m. performance of poetry, dance and visual art by Jennifer Alexander set to music for the Pasadena Mennonite Church, which meets at the Church of the Brethren, 1041 N. Altadena Drive.

More traditional works on Good Friday are Part II of George Frederich Handel’s oratorio “Messiah,” with choir and orchestra, at 7:30 p.m. at Holman United Methodist Church, 3320 W. Adams Blvd., Los Angeles, and a performance of “Let All Heaven Rejoice,” by David Clydesdale, by choir and orchestra at 8 p.m. in the sanctuary of Culver-Palms United Methodist Church, 4464 Sepulveda Blvd., Culver City. The suggested donation at the latter concert is $10 for adults and $7 for students.

NOTEWORTHY

* Auxiliary Bishop Stephen Blaire of the Los Angeles Catholic Archdiocese will be the principal celebrant at 3 p.m. Sunday in a recently completed chapel in West Hollywood dedicated to those who have died of AIDS. The Mass will be celebrated in a chapel at St. Victor’s Catholic Church, 8634 Holloway Drive. For information, call (310) 652-6477.

* The head of the Drikung Kagyu order of Tibetan Buddhism, Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang Rimpoche, will begin a U.S. visit with two weeks of ceremonies and teachings in Monterey Park, starting with an empowerment rite April 5. For information, call (805) 257-2943 or (213) 469-2468.