Playbill
This week is a time to celebrate family, friends and all of the positive things that we’ve been blessed with throughout the year. Most theatres are ceremoniously taking a break to reflect and celebrate along with the rest of the community, but will be getting back to the grind in time for winter break and Christmas productions.
One production that you and your friends and family can see together this holiday week is Barn Dinner Theatre’s Black Nativity, running Saturday through Dec. 13. The heart-felt musical by Langston Hughes is a vibrant re-telling of the birth of Jesus. The production includes high-energy dance routines, gospel music, passionate storytelling and the beating of drums.
There are several productions to look forward to in the coming weeks, including the opening night of Triad Stage’s Beautiful Star: An Appalachian Nativity. It will be the 10th anniversary of the Preston Lane original, and in honor of the milestone local musician and collaborator Laurelyn Dossett will be performing on stage for the first time. Productions begin next Thursday, Dec. 1.
That Friday, Dec. 2, Open Space Café Theatre is performing The Santaland Diaries and Season’s Greetings, by David Sedaris. The sarcastic productions highlight some of the pains of the holidays, including being a Macy’s elf.
The following week, Dec. 8, Theatre Alliance begins its holiday production of White Christmas, a classic-style musical based on the 1954 film of the same name. When two iconic song-and-dance men follow a sister act to Vermont, they soon discover that the nearly-bankrupt lodge in which they are to perform is actually owned by their former commanding general. The production includes such hits as “Blue Skies,” “I Love a Piano,” and “White Christmas.” Production runs through Dec. 18.
Closer to Christmas, Barn Dinner Theatre will continue its holiday spirit with a slap-stick comedy, How The Buckner Family Saved Christmas, running Dec. 15-23. When a disillusioned department store Santa and his helper try to ruin the Buckner Family’s Christmas, things don’t go quite as planned.
