Theater review: You’re welcome at the church of Penumbra’s ‘Black Nativity’

There’s a scene in my favorite Christmas movie — “The Homecoming,” the 1971 TV film that inspired a series, “The Waltons” — in which John-Boy Walton’s car breaks down on a snowy mountain road, and he goes toward the sound of singing coming from a little country church.

He enters and the Christmas Eve service is under way at this little church in the Appalachian Mountains, where his is the lone white face in an all-Black congregation. The singing pastor waves him inside and he receives smiles and nods of welcome from those around him while taking a seat and joining in the singing.

That scene introduced me to a couple of Christmas songs from the Southern gospel tradition, and I found myself reminded of it while attending the opening-night performance of Penumbra Theatre’s “Black Nativity,” which has been presented almost annually since 1987. You might enter Penumbra’s little theater in the Rondo neighborhood thinking you’re going to a show, but it doesn’t take long to realize that you are in church.

And what a welcoming church it is. Yes, there are biblical passages about the birth of Jesus and meditations upon them to be shared, but this church is mostly about the music. And what wonderful music it is, sent forth by a five-woman choir, five-piece band and two sublime vocal soloists, a sense of urgency and transcendence growing more palpable by the song. No matter their religious leanings, any visitor will likely feel inspired by the passion poured into this performance.

Directed by Penumbra founder Lou Bellamy, this “Black Nativity” continues the tradition these productions have settled into since sometime last decade: Basically, an intimate, Christmas-themed contemporary gospel concert with interstitial text from both the Old and New Testaments.

Yes, it shares its title and some elements — such as dancers representing Mary and Joseph — with an off-Broadway production that poet Langston Hughes created in 1961, but Penumbra’s “Black Nativity” is, more than anything, a powerful showcase for the splendid arranging skills of music director and pianist Sanford Moore and some spectacular singing.

And for the graceful execution of Marciano Silva dos Santos’ choreography, courtesy of MerSadies McCoy and Hassan Ingraham. Despite lyrics that evoke the segregation that was still part of Hughes’ America in 1961, “No Room” rises to a crescendo full of liberation in McCoy and Ingraham’s dancing, something echoed later in “Mary Had a Baby.”

Most of the production’s 17 songs start quietly, drawing listeners inward before gradually building in intensity toward a roof-raising catharsis. No one masters this template more grippingly than Greta Oglesby, most memorably on “How Excellent is Your Name” and “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” although Angela Stewart’s “O Holy Night” might be the consummate show stopper.

“Excellent” could also describe both Moore’s imaginative arrangements and the onstage band that he leads. Be it the muscular funky bass lines that Jay Young III brings to such songs as “Oh, Jerusalem in the Morning,” the searing rock guitar solos of Geoff LeCrone, or the explosion of percussion that Steve Jennings brings to the most spiritualized version of “The Little Drummer Boy” I’ve ever encountered, this is a first-rate ensemble.

But such could be said of the entire cast. Consider being part of their congregation this Christmas.

Rob Hubbard can be reached at wordhub@yahoo.com.