Already your December calendar is filling up, and it's still November. In between Christmas parties and shopping, you'd like to catch "The Nutcracker," "A Christmas Pageant" and "A Christmas Carol." You adore all the Frosty, Santa and Rudolph songs, but you also want to hear "Silent Night" and "The Little Drummer Boy." And don't forget Michael McLean's "Forgotten Carols."
What if you could do all that in one evening? Add in the magic of Robert Peterson, and you have "The Gift of Christmas," back for its sixth season at Promised Valley Playhouse.Written and directed by Randy Boothe, "A Gift of Christmas" is a patchwork quilt of Christmas traditions that have developed through the centuries. But the golden thread that ties them all together is "the reason for the season" - the birth of Jesus Christ.
Peterson stars as the Bethlehem innkeeper who turned away the weary couple from Nazareth. The production opens with Michael McLean's "Let Him In." The innkeeper, who poignantly says, "I never saw the boy," is taken by a modern young family (Christopher Jacobs as the father; Kathryn Little, mother; Mark Boothe and Annalece Boothe, children) on a journey through tradition.
PVP has pulled out all the stops for a visual and aural holiday treasure.
Bright costumes and inventive scenery introduce the innkeeper to "Jingle Bells" and "Winter Wonderland." Children and teens dart through a town square animated by a huge dancing snowman.
Taken to the young couple's home, the innkeeper is told about the spirit of giving and Santa Claus. Before he knows it, he is whisked away to Santa's workshop - which resembles a cozy Disney scene. Brightly clad elves and bigger-than-life toys will enchant the youngest playgoers. Santa even takes a spin on a skateboard.
When the innkeeper is taken back to the home of the young family, Santa pauses to kneel at a Nativity scene in the living room. This quiet statement puts Christmas in perspective.
One of the loveliest of the original songs Boothe wrote for this production is "Mama's Christmas Quilt," and as Christopher Jacobs sings it, he unfolds a magnificent patchwork quilt with the Nativity scene at the center.
Since Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" has become such a Christmas favorite, the innkeeper finds himself cast in a play within a play as Scrooge. Cleverly and humorously, the father becomes Bob Crachit and instructs the innkeeper in his curmudgeonly role. Christmases past, present and future are depicted.
Following the intermission, the innkeeper sings "A Season for Change," reinforcing the atoning role of the Savior. The abridged "A Christmas Carol" just performed may now have new meaning for audience members.
The dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy introduces a "Nutcracker" segment, including wonderful performances of the Chinese and Russian dances.
Peterson reprises his "Let Him In" and fills the theater with his gorgeous voice. McLean's "Three Kings Found the Lord/I Cannot Find My Way" is staged to a powerful dance segment ethereally draped in fog. Peterson doesn't so much sing the words as he sears them into memory.
When Peterson lifts the tiny Christ Child in the final scene, you may feel as I did, that you could go directly to Jan. 1, 1996 - you've seen, heard and felt it all.