TV REVIEWS : Only Scrooge Would Gripe at ‘Hallelujah’

“Hallelujah” is an original Christmas tale that unabashedly pulls out every last emotional stop, including a contemporary retelling of the story of baby Jesus set against the reality of a black urban church. It airs under the “American Playhouse” umbrella at 8 tonight on KCET-TV Channel 28 and KPBS-TV Channel 15.

Bethlehem becomes a ghetto in Washington. The Virgin Mary is represented by a mysterious, pregnant young black woman (Tracy Douglas) whose face seems bathed in a perpetual glow. Her baby is born on Christmas Eve in a back alley as snowflakes begin to fill the sky.

The “wise men” hovering over the cardboard box of a manger number a newly arrived minister in a Santa Claus suit seeking to bring “magic” to his first sermon (Dennis Haysbert); a boisterous, kindly homeless man (Keith David); and a bitter, loveless atheist with a growly voice (James Earl Jones) who ends up delivering the baby and also the epiphany that accompanies his birth.

Meanwhile, the gospel choir at the church has been clapping and swaying and heretofore drowsy parishioners are beaming and rocking like that flock in “Sister Act.”

All of this, in an obviously ham-fisted scenario by writer Michael Genet, takes a while to work up to under the pedestrian direction of Charles Lane. But sentimental excess in TV dramas three days before Christmas is not unexpected. Only Scrooge would gripe at this show.