‘Meet Me in St. Louis’ a Delightful Revival

The Civic Light Opera of South Bay Cities presentation of “Meet Me in St. Louis” at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center is a bright and bubbly seasonal pleaser featuring the warm vocals of Julie Gunner and the Hugh Martin-Ralph Blane holiday standard “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”

Based on the original Sally Benson stories and the 1944 MGM film classic starring Judy Garland, the story takes place in St. Louis the year before the World Fair opened. At the Smith family residence, a light-yellow Victorian house that opens up for the interior scenes like an oversized dollhouse, the eldest daughter, Rose (Jill Van Velzer) is waiting for her rich beau, Warren Sheffield (Rod Weber) to pop the question. Gunner, as the tomboyish Esther, pines after their new neighbor, John (Brent Schindele). Brother Lon (K.C. Gussler) is about to go off to college, and the father, Alonso (Doug Carfrae), soon announces that the family will move to New York.

Under director and choreographer Jon Engstrom and associate choreographer Anne Marie Roller, the action flows seamlessly into the dance numbers, cheerily accented by David Profeta’s wardrobe coordination.

Gunner is more brash than Garland was and her lovely, melodic voice does these old songs justice. But the whole cast is uniformly good, from Van Velzer’s properly reserved yet hopeful Rose to Carfrae’s slightly gruff Alonso.

This schmaltzy story about tender romance, in which girls don’t kiss until they’re engaged and family relations are more fun than fractured, is a delightful holiday offering for the whole family.

* “Meet Me in St. Louis,” Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center, 1935 Manhattan Beach Blvd., Redondo Beach. Today, Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 7 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 2 p.m. Ends Sunday. $30-$45. (310) 372-4477. Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes.