Tis the Season for Christmas Stories and Hope and Giving!

Just how joyful would the Christmas season be without the wonder and merriment of the many special Christmas theatrical productions that brighten up our lives every year, those time-honored works of art that seem to set the tone for the Christmas spirit for most of us? No matter how many times I see “A Christmas Carol”, or “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “Miracle on 34th Street”, I never seem to tire of their upbeat, thought-provoking and inspiring messages.

In my mind, there is only one movie version of “Miracle on 34th Street” worth its salt, and that was the award-winning 1947 version directed by George Seaton and starring Maureen O’Hara, John Payne, Natalie Wood, William Frawley, and Edmond Gwenn. The movie was nominated for Best Picture, but lost out to “Gentlemen’s Agreement”. It also came away with Best Writing, Original Story and Best Writing, Original Screenplay. There are four remakes of this movie in addition to a musical version entitled “Here’s Love”, written by Meredith Wilson. Certainly this story has attained the status of being a classic Christmas tale.

The first such revival of the play “Miracle on 34th Street” to come my way this year, is a superbly funny, mature and heartwarming local production. It is produced by the Town Hall Theatre in Lafayette and is directed in excellent fashion by Jessica Richards (also an Associate Artistic Director at California Shakespeare in Orinda). Town Hall has also engaged a new Artistic Director, the highly recognized and well respected director, Clive Worsley to oversee their operations. Clive brings with his mentorship, a wealth of knowledge of live theatre and actors of all type, including professional, semi-professional, and neophyte. Clive has the ability to meld this rich diversity of talent into a superbly artful and rewarding experience. This production is a perfect example of theatrical prowess in bringing together a lot of eager, hardworking and dedicated talent to provide their audience with a superb evening of outstanding community theater.

It would be very difficult for me to imagine that there is hardly anyone left in our society who is not thoroughly familiar with this fantasy story of a gentleman by the name of Kris Kringle (Santa Claus), who becomes upset when he accidentally discovers that the gentleman hired by Macy’s Department Store to portray Santa Claus in their annual parade is thoroughly inebriated. Kringle reports his findings to the event director, Doris Walker, who in turn, fires the impaired Claus. Walker (played superbly by Beth Deitchman) implores Kris Kringle (Tom Flynn) to don the crimson costume and take on the role of Santa Claus so that the parade can continue without disappointing the thousands of children waiting to see him. Kringle makes such a great impression, that Walker pleads with him to take on the role of Santa Claus in the toy department of the world famous Macy’s department store at 34th and Harold Square, in New York City.

Kringle, being the kindly, honest and honorable man that we envision in his character, contrary to his employer’s instructions, tells a frustrated woman customer where she can find the fire truck adamantly desired by her child, and in so doing, directs her to another store where the gift is available. When the Macy’s managers overhear of this employee’s sacrilege, the act of sending customers elsewhere to find that special gift, they are greatly dismayed by his honesty and his failure to promote products that they want to sell.

Doris Walker considers herself a modern single mother, unfettered by institutionalized dogma and concepts. She wants to raise her daughter as a pragmatist free of fairy tale hopes and beliefs, a practical and self assured woman. Her neighbor, Fred Gailey, is an aspiring young attorney, who is enamored with the attractive and single Doris Walker. Fred Gailey (Timothy Redmond) plays up to Doris’s daughter, Susan, (played by Ellie Garman in this particular show) in order to get to know her mother better. When Fred takes Susan to meet Santa Clause, Doris, the practical mother, takes offense, chiding Fred by telling him that she doesn’t want her daughter taught anything but the absolute truth and nothing but the truth. Her daughter begins to accept that there may be some truth in Kris Kringle’s assertion that he is in fact the real Santa Claus. When Doris confronts Kringle, demanding that he tell her daughter the truth as to his identity, he reiterates and affirms that he is in fact, Santa Claus. Doris becomes deeply alarmed that this man is in fact, a nut case.

A rather complicated sequence of events ends with a Macy’s staff psychologist by the name of Sawyer (played well by Barbara Allen Ceccehetti) sending Mr. Kringle to the Bellview Sanitarium for evaluation and commitment. When the young attorney, Fred Gailey, finds this out, he quits his job with a prestigious New York law firm, to make the necessary time to properly defend Mr. Kringle, in order to secure his release. That court hearing into Kringle’s sanity and commitment hearing is a real jewel, in fact, in the Town Hall production, it becomes a delightful circus. I won’t tell you the clever tactics employed by Mr. Gailey to win Kris Kringle’s release, nor will I tell you the heartwarming and surprise ending that makes this terrific play the gem that it is. You will just have to see it yourself.

In addition to the actors already mentioned, the following contributed in such sterling fashion, that they need to receive kudos for the great contributions they made: Bill Clemente was excellent as the toy department manager, Mr. Shellhammer. Randy Anger was superlative as Judge Harper. Tom Peterson was very powerful as Mr. Macy. Macy’s employee, Miss Adams, played well by Lauren Rosi, is proof positive that there is no such thing as a “small” part or role, what a delightful addition she is to this show. The radio announcer, Alex Dixon Hall, was in perfect voice. Perhaps, the most important role in the entire show is that of the crew that make those most important scenery changes, and in this show, with at least 33 changes, this production lives or dies through their quick and well choreographed transfers of props and furniture. Magie Manzano, Louise Fisher, Kiera Peacock, Kristina D’ Amico and Alex Dixon Hall all deserve appropriate recognition for their hard work!

The set and integral pieces, designed by Loren Hoselton, worked seamlessly. Lighting by Drew Kaufman added significantly and the show was enhanced significantly by the marvelous costume design of Bessie Delucchi.

This delightful production continues Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., with Sunday matinees at 2 p.m., now through December 24th. Additional shows will be mounted on Saturday, December 20th, at 2 p.m., on Sunday, December 21st at 7 p.m., on Tuesday, December 23rd at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., and again on Wednesday, December 24th at 2 p.m., the final day of production.
The Town Hall Theatre Company is located at 3535 School Street, at the corner of Moraga Road, in Lafayette. Tickets range between a very reasonable $12 price for youth to $25 for seniors and $32 maximum for adults on Fridays and Saturdays. Call the box office at 925-283-1557 for ticket and reservation information. There will be a special pricing for Rossmoor Residents at the afternoon performance on Tuesday, December 23rd, at 2 p.m.. Call the box office, tell them you are a Rossmoor resident and they will tell you what the special pricing will be for that specific show. Gretchen Hansen in Rossmoor transportation (925-988-7670) says that you should be at the Rossmoor bus stop by 1:30 and that the bus service should return you to Rossmoor by 4:30 that same day.

This is a great show for the whole family, kids and grandkids alike, don’t miss it!

Nunsense makes perfect sense for Christmas celebrating!

“Christmas time is Nunsense time at Mt. St. Helen’s school!” At least that’s what we are led to believe by Sister Mary Regina (Revered Mother of the Little Sisters of Hoboken Convent), as the good sisters of this very unique cloister prepare for a Christmas holiday community TV special being filmed in the Convent’s basement. The Willows Cabaret Theatre in Martinez is currently playing host to these wacky nuns created by author Dan Goggins, by presenting “Nuncrackers: The Nunsense Christmas Musical”.

It has been a few years since I have re-visited the craziest Catholic cloister to ever poke gentle fun at Catholicism. I would suspect that if your religious roots were first planted in the Catholic Church, then this wacky but beloved bevy of Nuns would bring back both fond and frustrating memories for you.

I believe Karen and I first encountered Dan Goggins’ theatrical Catholic Nuns at least 18 to 20 years ago when the Artistic Director of the Willows Theatre in Concord (Richard Elliott), transformed the old vacant Concord Roller Rink into a theatre, to set up their first satellite theatrical venue. It was in this unique theatre that we first came to love Dan Goggin’s original “Nunsense” production, which was centered around the nuns who were having to deal with a vichyssoise soup cooking disaster (in which Sister Julia Child of God accidentally poisoned 52 of her sisters). Botulism is so silent and sinister, isn’t it? The production company was delighted to find that this crazy show could draw people to east Concord and that it would continue to draw patrons for a full 37 weeks. A total of over 35,000 theatre-goers came again and again to see this popular production.

Over the years, Goggins has expanded the Nun’s interest and repertoire to include and explore a wild variety of adventures, including Nuns in Las Vegas, a country music caper, and even a Jewish interfaith experiment.

Since the Willow’s theatre has been so thoroughly enamored with the wacky Nuns from Hoboken, the Willows Theatre Company has not only presented all of the Goggins’ comedies repeatedly over the years, but even dedicated a special theatre to the ongoing yearly re-staging of these fun-filled and highly entertaining shows, called the Willows Cabaret “Campbell” Theatre located at 636 Ward Street in downtown Martinez, one block south east of Main Street at the Corner of Estudillo Street. All told, to date, over 114,000 laughing patrons have attended these shows at the Willows theatre, since that first production in 1990.

Over the past twenty years, you may have seen the original “Nunsense” or any of the five sequels, including “Nunsense 2: The Second Coming”, “Sister Amnesia’s Country Western Nunsense Jamboree”, “Messhugah-Nuns”, “Nunsensations: The Nunsense Vegas Review” or this currently produced comedy masterpiece, “ Nuncrackers: The Nunsense Christmas Musical”. If not, it is time you get your act together and take some friends to see this very funny show.
This delightfully funny Christmas adventure with the wonderfully wacky Hoboken Nuns takes place in the basement studio (formerly the Mount St. Helen’s gymnasium) where a local cable TV company, WCON-TV, is preparing to film the convent’s first ever “Christmas TV special”.

The show features all your favorite nuns, Sister Robert Anne (Deborah Del Mastro), Sister Mary Hubert (Liz Rogers-Beckley), Sister Mary Paul “Amnesia” (Rena Wilson) and adds Father Virgil (Russ Lorenson) as they engage the audience in this befuddled Christmas production, in which the multitalented and slightly naughty nuns attempt to demonstrate their individual talents in a series of Christmas related skits. In addition, the skits include four of Mount Saint Helen’s most promising and talented students, John (Scott Taylor), Louise (Sarah Donalds), Billy (Trevor Gomez), and Maria (Amanda Neiman). The show features a bunch of new songs, including “Twelve Days Prior to Christmas”, “Santa Ain’t Comin’ to our House”, “We Three Kings of Orient Are Us”, “and “It’s Better to Give Than To Receive”.

The marvelously silly rendition of “Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Ballet” is bound to be long remembered. In addition, Father Virgil’s portrayal as Sister Julia Child of God in the Cooking skit is absolutely delightful. Deborah Del Mastro is, as always, terrific as Sister Robert Anne. Del Mastro originated this role when Nuncrackers opened in 1998. She has a terrific voice and plays a “mean trumpet”. Sister Mary Paul “Amnesia” is played exceptionally well by Rena Wilson, who in her bubbly, effervescent charm, reminds me in many ways of that wonderful flying nun of yesterday, Sally Field. Amy Washburn is delightfully rattled as the Reverend Mother and Liz T. Rogers-Beckley does very well as the more serious Sister Hubert. Her rendition of “It’s Better To Give Than Receive” is a real winner.

All together, this is an evening of entertainment that passes much too quickly. This theatre is a very crowded cabaret venue where everyone sits at very small tables. The occasional noise and talking of other theatre-goers, while eating and drinking their various entrees sold by the theatre to fill the inner void, can be a bit distracting. However, the fun, frivolity and bingo game at intermission, make it a Christmas caper well worth your participation. Call the box office at 925-798-1300 or visit their website at www.willowstheatre.org for more information. Tickets range between $20 and $30. Evening shows on Wednesdays and Thursdays are at 7:30 p.m., Fridays and Saturday performances are at 8 p.m., and there are matinees on Wednesdays at 3:30, Saturdays at 2 p.m., and Sundays at 3 p.m., now through December 21st in the Willows Cabaret at the Campbell Theatre.