B Street Theatre's new holiday show is the musical, Spinning Into Light.

Buck Busfield’s lovely gift of a new Christmas show at the B Street Theatre every year is a sweet one, and deeply appreciated by Sacramento theatergoers. Spinning Into Light, this year’s offering, is his first musical, and it features music written by Noah Agruss, a composer with strong local ties.

Set in a Southern mill town in the 1950s, Spinning Into Light tells the story of four local people, all struggling with loneliness, disappointment and desire during the holiday season. Vassar (Greg Alexander), a World War II vet, is the mill’s mechanic and the play’s strong comedic center. He is quietly in love with Sally (Melinda Parrett), a divorcee who works in the mill and who is emotionally chained to her ex-husband, the salesman Kenny (Jason Kuykendall). Also in the mix is the gregarious Mindy Sue (Tara Sissom), a wannabe Patsy Cline who takes a liking to Vassar.

Throughout, we have the voice of the mill’s management (David Silberman, in an uncredited role) with encouragement to the “family” of employees in what is essentially a company town, dependent even for its electricity on the mill—and information about injured co-workers.

Unfortunately, the play itself could use some work. Agruss’ Americana- and bluegrass-inflected compositions work well, but the lyrics are uneven—for every really good song like “I Hate Boys,” there’s one that just never gets quite where it ought—and the story is predictable (though with a strangely realistic and dark ending). There’s also some confusion about where the focus for the story is set; while some songs tell us that the mill is the most important thing, the real attraction is in the resilience of the characters.

Excellent acting is a high point, especially from Alexander, who says far more with his face than with his lines. Rather uneven singing—and some weird acoustic effects—is offset by energy (Alexander and Sissom have a kick-ass bluegrass duet in “Pig in a Pen”) and by Parrett’s incredible voice.

Another big plus is the set, designed by Samantha Reno, which makes use of the theater-in-the-round production to include elements of the mill—large pulleys, rope cables and old-style light bulbs—as well as textiles mounted above the back tier of seats.

Overall, Spinning Into Light is a good show—though it’s not the best of B Street’s holiday efforts.