Photo Credit: Reagle Music Theatre
ChristmasTime, Reagle Music Theatre, 12/3/11-12/11/11, http://www.reagleplayers.com/current.html.
Reviewed by Gillian Daniels
(Waltham, MA) The Reagle Theatre, for its Christmas pageant, does not settle on a few simple scenes followed by the solemn Nativity.
This production takes its audience to as many locales as possible: a Cathedral interior, Santa’s workshop, a busy Victorian street, and a digest version of the Nutcracker performed almost completely by ballet dancers in teddy bear suits. Christmas Time is energetic, all-encompassing, and exhausting in its depiction of the holiday.
Sets, choreography, and costumes are exquisitely detailed. One particular set piece, a shop called Yolanda’s, is utilized for the song “Twelve Days to Christmas.” Shoppers fly in and out of the store, each occupied with their own agendas, texting on phones and sometimes secretly shoplifting. The economic chaos of the holiday is handled with a gentle cynicism.
Much more lavish are the numbers that include the dancers who, among other numbers, perform the memorable “Parade of Wooden Soldiers” with the permission of the Radio City Music Hall.
Christmas Time hits broad, appealing to as many family members as it can. One part involves the children in the audience being invited on stage to sing “Jingle Bells” with the cast. I suggest using this section of the play to measure your tolerance for the more child-oriented themes, though even the most hard-boiled Grinch may find the cameo by a singing Kermit the Frog heartwarming.
The play is sweet and, for the most part, inoffensive, though the racial flavoring of the bears in the Nutcracker scene is a bit strange. Christmas Time is inviting, though, and over-the-top in its holiday entertainment.
All the secular distractions culminate in a bright, dreamy Nativity scene. The ending has angels, wise men, and shepherds stand behind gauzy screens, giving the effect of a series of paintings. It’s a lovely sight and, if one is interested, I suggest acting quickly in purchasing tickets before the production ends.
3:28/12/5-Correction-Reagle Music Theatre is a professional year-round theatre
Reagle Music Theatre of Greater Boston is a unique award-winning professional regional theater company that features Broadway stars performing alongside local talent. Founded in 1969, Reagle Music Theatre is a non-profit arts organization based in Waltham, Mass. Operating year-round, Reagle produces major musicals each summer, spectacular seasonal revues, and celebrity concerts featuring legendary entertainers. The company also offers a variety of school-based educational programs and musical theater camps designed to give children in the West Suburban region the opportunity to expand their horizons through the performing arts. Stars who have appeared at Reagle include Patrick Cassidy, John Davidson, Robert Goulet, Shirley Jones, Patti LuPone, Ann Margaret, Andrea McArdle, Lee Meriwether, The Mills Brothers, Sarah Pfisterer, Debbie Reynolds, Sally Struthers, Tommy Tune, Leslie Uggams, Joanne Worley, and Rachel York.