December 1943. American citizens of Japanese ancestry have been forcibly relocated to internment camps for more than a year. Some have volunteered to fight for the United States. Others — the No-No Boys — have chosen prison and eventual deportation when drafted for military service. As the year winds down and tensions among the factions rise, some young people in a California camp decide to stage a Christmas show. Swing is the thing in 1943 and the show becomes "A Jive Bomber’s Christmas."

Kumu Kahua’s Hawaii-premiere production of this Christmas-themed musical is educational as well as entertaining. It is also a successful artistic stretch for the company.

Playwrights Sachiko and Dom Magwili cover key elements of the Japanese-American internment camp experience in concise and compelling style: The heat. The dust. The general lack of privacy. The communal toilet and shower facilities. The conflicts when people are transferred from other camps and the residents have to make room for them.

Local stage veteran Chevy Martinez (Jackson Omata) is an instant hit as the young "jive bomber" who loves swing music and secretly trades records with one of the camp guards. Ditto Jessica Kauhane (Mitzi Kagayama) with her scene-stealing portrayal of a veteran singer-dancer with a broad pidgin accent. Regina Lozano (Kei Aragaki) is appealing as a sensitive young woman for whom neatness and attention to detail are ways of maintaining a link with her older brother serving in Italy.

Royce Okazaki (Arnold Kozai) and Christianne Michel (Alice Nishi) make a cute couple of young teens in love.

Jarod Kamamo Bailon (Aki Yamada) blends sensitivity and passion in the pivotal role of a man whose wife and child died in the camp under circumstances that are never revealed. Po‘okela Award-winner Daren Kimura (Hideo Aragaki) has a small but important role as Kei Aragaki’s older brother.

Act I could stand alone as a complete one-act play. At intermission one character has volunteered for service and another has become a No-No Boy. Hideo is missing in action but several other personal conflicts have been resolved. Answer the question about Hideo’s fate and the story is over.

The forward progress of the story stops in Act II as we sit through the camp Christmas show in its entirety. It’s like one of those old movies about someone putting on a show where most of the movie consists of one musical performance after another.

It takes talent to dance awkwardly or sing just a bit off-key. Director Stephanie Conching’s talented cast makes it all look natural. A duo has an argument in the middle of their number, a reluctant participant suddenly blossoms, and so on.

The show goes on and on — including a Christmas carol sing-along — for more than 30 minutes.

And as it does, we wonder if Kei’s brother is one of the more than 700 Japanese-American soldiers who died in Europe fighting for the United States during World War II.