AH… the holiday programs continue.  Last night, my first grade niece, Alyssa, and fifth grade nephew, Alex had their Elementary Christmas Program.  Unlike Elizabeth’s production of Seussical, Jr. last weekend, every student in grades K-5 were involved.  However, the evening was divided into 2 (or three if you count the 6th grade guitar class) musical extravaganzas.

The youngest 3 classes presented A Bear-Merry Holiday in which the Kindergartners were dressed in brown as Grizzly Bears.  The first grade group as white Polar Bears.  The second graders transformed into either Black or Panda Bears  Some of the highlights of this show were the angry, rapping grizzlies who promised to “be good.”  However, when they thought they were not being watched, returned to their rappin’ ways.

“Panda-monium” found a group of pandas chasing each other in a circle… not much room on the stage and one nearly fell down; however, I think this might have been slightly intentional as the near stumble looked a bit choreographed.

After two intermissions (after the K-2 were finished and following the guitarists),  it was time for the big kids to present Santa’s Rockin’ Christmas Eve.  The televised variety show featured an array of musical talent everything from a 60s Motown girls group, to a bluesy Mrs. Claus, to a Beatles-esque fivesome (ok, the Beatles were the fab 4) who made the girls swoon and feint.

There were more individual character roles in this production and I would have to say that my favorite was the quick talking, frequently “ad-libbing” emcee Swingle Kringle (brother of the guy in the red suit who everyone was waiting to make a surprise appearance) who was often admonished for his penchant for going off the cue cards.

When Santa finally arrived, he did not come alone.  He and his back-up group performed the traditional holiday Disco hit, “S.A.N.T.A.”  I think the costumes could have been a bit more creative for that number.  Perhaps not the traditional garb of a police officer, construction worker, Native American, biker dude, and military guy but a little more than just the jolly old elf in his polyester suit.

After the performance, we came home for our annual viewing of the 1938 version of A Christmas Carol.  One tidbit gathered from the pre-show introduction:  Scrooge was originally supposed to be played by Lionel Barrymore who had for years performed the role over the radio and was the original choice.  However, just before filming was to begin, Mr. Barrymore took a nasty fall and was unable to be in the film.  He would create a role just as curmudgeonly (love that word) some eight years later, Mr. Henry F. Potter, himself. Tonight, the Muppet’s take on the Carol is on.  Haven’t seen that one in years!

Another fun-filled holiday extravaganza.  Monday night (weather permitting) I will take in my final concert at the glorious Huber… weather permitting of course.  We could be in for a bit MORE of the white tonight into Sunday.

The ‘What’s Your Favorite Christmas Movies / Tv Specials’ poll has been done before, but I  thought I would obtain my own consensus.  After all, opinions change from year to year, and I’m also interested to see what people like.  Feel  free to choose more than one answer and also to add something I may have forgotten.

[poll id=”11″]

Our community theatre, in it’s infinite wisdom, has decided to limit the number of musicals to one per season.  I suppose that I can see the need for this.  A good, well-known musical is much more expensive to produce than a play.  However, it has been pointed out time and again that musicals are the bread and butter of most theatres and if the right musical is chosen and performed well, they generally bring in more money than most plays.  Most of the musicals I have either been involved with or heard about have done well (with one exception but the reasons for the financial loss were many).

The problem is… trying to find plays that will bring in audiences.  It has been suggested that we attempt to focus on seasonal shows.  In October, I cannot wait to be part of the all cast production of Little Shop of  Horrors.  In December, we are performing Miracle on 34th Street.  Both shows would appeal to the seasons.

For next season, we already have the musical locked in.  Taffetas is going to be done in October 2010.  I suggested doing another Christmas show like A Christmas Story (yes the movie has been turned into a stage play that I think would be a riot to perform).  There are also any number of versions of Dickens’ perennial favorite, A Christmas Carol.  I also mentioned via email a suggestion given to me for future October shows: Dracula.  Are there any other shows that would fit into other seasons?  A good romantic comedy for February.  Something like Honk! for future spring shows?

Or another possibility, our theatre has within it at least two people who have the fantastic knack of playwriting.  Many times, these are given spots entitled “independent projects.”  I think that if someone has a piece ready for performance it should be included as part of the season.

So, if any of my readers hiding in the shadows have any suggestions, please come out and suggest them.  I still think that it would not hurt to do Romeo and Juliet.  I know most people cringe at the idea of bringing Shakespeare to a small stage, but I say why not take a chance?

Last night was the theatre’s (check out the new and improved website) annual awards night and it was filled with comedy, excitement, and a few tears.  The group lost a great asset this year and there was a fine tribute given in her honor by the interim president… very few dry eyes remained after that.  Conveniently, our fantastic host chose this moment to have an intermission. I think it was a fantastic touch to honor a lady who along with her husband have added so much to our group.

One of the highlights of the evening was a skit showcasing some of the characters from the past season as well as inserting themes from a 2002 production of A Christmas Carol which I was not a part of but have heard a great deal about.  This was also written by the talented MC who also provided a series of Jib-Jab videos on the projection screen for even more hilarity.

Another bit of humor was provided by the adorable couple who entertained with a parody of the song “One Day More” from the musical Les Miserables.

Overall, each of the awards were very well received.  However, I must say that i am biased when it comes to the special awards given out.  Justj and Carol each continue to go totally above and beyond.  J has been our unofficial videographer for several productions and single-handedly repaired the large, leaky roof which was so prominent during our summer production.

I would say that Carol is one of several ladies who act as honorary mothers to the group.  I had the profound honor of working with her backstage during The Nerd in September.  She was a great help in bringing the food used on stage, cleaning up cottage cheese, and helping keep a certain young boy under control backstage.  Both of these honorees exemplify the hard work and dedication necessary to keep a small community theatre afloat.

This brings me to daughter of one of these award winners (and she knows this is coming).  The director of the upcoming production of Over the Tavern is looking for someone to fill the role of the 16 year-old daughter, Annie.  Megan is about to turn 21; however, those around her and especially myself (as she will attest) feel that she would be wonderfully cast.  She agreed to read the script but made sure to voice her concern that she has at least one evening class during the week.  I proceeded to remind her that she bailed on our trip to Florida in October but the play is right in town and I’m sure the director would work around her if she fit the part.  Megan has constantly said that she has wanted to get back on stage and this would be a fine opportunity 😉  Ok… i think that is enough prodding.  Anyone else care to join in?  Maybe this will encourage her to comment.

Finally, the evening wrapped up after a group of us again congregated at the host’s home.  I have not laughed and had such a good time in awhile.  i also got to see many friends I have not seen in quite a while including a former co-worker whom I have not seen since last New Years.

Well, I have been on the early shift for the last couple of days and I just have to say that that, coupled with my tendency to not sleep through the night, makes for one tired teacher.  Yesterday I had it easy.  I left to a temperature outside over 40º colder than it was the night before, and on icy roads thanks to the rain the day and night before, on a slow trip all the way to middle school science.  The teacher did not expect to be out again and so another teacher set me up with a couple of videos.  One was a left-leaning news special titled Who Killed the Electric Car? True, it is a really good question as we could use them these days as I would expect the gas prices to go up significantly again.  Well, unleaded prices anyway as diesel hasn’t actually dropped all that much since the summer in comparison.  I say left-leaning as when it got to talking about government as a suspect (battery technology, consumers, oil companies, car companies, and others were also suspects) it pretty much painted Republican presidents like Reagan and Bush Jr. as evil, signing environmentally unfriendly bills into law, and praises Democratic presidents Carter and Clinton on their policies.  Again, this doesn’t erase the question about electric cars though- we really should be seeing more of them than we are.  A lot more actually since according to the video GM’s EV-1 cars were all destroyed back in 2004.  The closest thing we have at the moment I believe are hybrids like the Toyota Prius.  The entire video was 90 minutes so I only got to see a portion of it, four times of course…  Two classes saw a Bill Nye video on the atmosphere.  Oddly enough, this teacher teaches both 7th and 8th grades, a bit unusual for middle school.

Today I went to the other side of the brain to language arts.  It was an even easier day.  Two of the classes (four periods) were team taught, so I was reduced to helper status for these periods.  The other two periods were really small groups- one with six students and one with three.  The one with three was the most challenging as one of the students was in a very goofy mood.  Where the title of this post comes into play is in the book a teacher read aloud in one of the classes.  As the class started she was reading about Marley so I thought this was going to be about another story, play actually, the classes had also been working on fitting for this time of year.  Of course I mean Charles Dicken’s classic A Christmas Carol.  However I soon realized this was another story entirely- the middle school version of the book Marley & Me.  This movie is coming out Christmas Day and after today’s excerpt I can confidently say I will be skipping it.  The chapter started out talking about John taking Marley to Dog Beach (I think that was the name), but no dog ever messed on the beach so Marley would have to take care of business beforehand, which he did in a colorful description depicting the act.  While at the beach, Marley was playing in the water and drinking quantities of the salty liquid while running around, refusing the offered fresh water.  As a result, the dog upchucked and there was another lovely description of this event.  Naturally it didn’t stop there as the salt water also caused loose bowels.  Thankfully the teacher stopped before describing this event.  Now I realize this will likely take up only seconds on the screen, and knowing Hollywood those scenes will be there, but I have to ask myself if the author was willing to gross readers out by going into detail on these scenes, then what else is in this book?  I think I do not wish to find out.  Thanks for saving me $10 plus refreshments.

AHHHH… the Christmas season is definitely in full swing.  Today was our first measurable snow since late last winter.  I awoke on a day off to the sound of the snow plow outside my window.  Before my parents left for the day, they requested that I clear the sidewalk if and when it stopped.  Well… after I got back from church at 6PM, the snow had stopped.  Sorry, too dark although I did search the house high and low for a shovel (honestly, I did; I fully intended upon braving the frigid temps and wind to clear the walk).

On my day off, I decided to break out my copy of Charles Dicken’s immortal classic A Christmas Carol.  My copy not only includes the story of the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge and his spirited visitors but also contains other tales: “The Story of the Goblins who Stole a Sexton” (the story from The Pickwick Papers upon which the Carol is based).  Also, A Christmas Episode from Master Humphrey’s Clock.  There is a total of eight yuletide tales.  I am just about to begin reading the classic ghost story.  There may be numerous versions just beginning to be played on television, but there is nothing like reading the original and using your MIND’s eye, unencumbered by other’s interpretation.

The following is the complete list included in my edition:

• Christmas Festivities
• The Story of the Goblins who Stole a Sexton
• A Christmas Episode from Master Humphrey’s Clock
• A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas
  
• The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain
• A Christmas Tree
• What Christmas Is, As We Grow Older (written in 1851, the year in which Dickens’ lost both his father and infant daughter, Dora)
• The Seven Poor Travellers

I also spent some time outside with two nieces who were joyfully squeaking about the white- covered landscape.

Recently while reading an email from playbill.com, I discovered that Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities has been made into a new musical. This is not the first time one of the at least seventeen novels has been musically staged. The Pickwick Papers was staged in London as Pickwick in 1965 and was most notable for the song, “If I Ruled the World.” A Christmas Carol has had several incarnations over the years. Dickens’ unfinished novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, also enjoyed success on Broadway in the 1980s. Drood is interesting because, like the novel, it was left unfinished leaving the audience to cast their votes upon whom the murderer is (another possibility for audience participation in theatre productions). Of course, the most popular musical based on a Dickens’ novel is Oliver!

It has been sometime since I have read A Tale of Two Cities. I do remember the character of Madame DeFarge (by name alone but she must be a memorable character). But, like Les Miserables, it is set during the time of the French Revolution. Reading some of the reviews from premiere stagings at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida it sounds like it could enjoy a decent run in New York (if not it will be “the worst of times” for those involved). You can read a synopsis of the show and listen to songs from the show at the website.

You can get tickets to see the new musical or other shows at TicketsNow Homepage