“Twas The Night Before Christmas” reviewed by Christine and Maya Bouchend’Homme

Highly Recommended **** Editor’s note: When children’s shows are to be reviewed, I try, whenever possible to make sure that a youngster is in the audience, so those who are planning to take their child, or grandchild, will get the perspective of a younger person. After all, who wants to know what a 75- year -old critic feels. So, I asked my daughter-in-laws sister, Christine to take Maya ( her daughter who has added her touch over the years) and view , and review, the Ken Ludwig version of “Twas The Night Before Christmas” now on the stage at The Broadway Playhouse located at 175 East Chestnut ( at the Water Tower Place) in Chicago.

Here is the review:

As my mom and I sat down in the intimate theater to enjoy what My mom thought was a classic production of the traditional story, we were enchanted by the colorful and whimsical set (design by William Boles). Neither of us knew anything about this production, or to be honest Ken Ludwig who wrote this adaptation. The show is one hour of merriment and worth the trip to Water Tower Place and the Broadway Playhouse.

The cast was fantastic. Erik Pearson ( who I think played Captain Hook in the Navy Pier production of “Peter Pan”) Kirra Silver, Anthony Whitaker , Alejandro Tey,  Nora Lise Ulrey, Janyce Carabalb, Matt Miles, and Sam Cass.  While the cast is small in numbers, it is huge in talent. We sat in the second row ( awesome seats!) so we were able to see all the great detail that went in to the set and costumes ( wonderful work by Rachel M. Sypniewski). The lighting (Keith Parham) and sound (Jeffrey Levin) were sheer perfection. We never missed seeing or hearing anything. The musical direction by Celia Villaces and the fight choreography ( Gaby Labotka) were fun and the props (Leticia Gusland) sheer perfection. The entire production was directed by Jacqueline Stone who truly understands the work of the author and what will keep  kids involved in a story!

I have never seen this show before, but if you do not know the original version, you may not realize that this is a new storyline/version of a familiar title. Yes, we do start with the poem,. “Twas The Night Before Christmas” and quickly digress with a silly, but helpful, vocabulary lesson about “creature stirring” or not. The characters are: an Uncle, a mouse, a girl, a couple of house guests, two villains, a Jewish Elf ( who doesn’t work on Fridays), a twin brother from Kansas and Santa himself!

We were a little concerned when the storyline took us to telling the audience that Santa might skip some homes along his route. We were worried that some of the audience members might be upset over these words. But the action of the play and the storyline made sure that the kids would not feel that way at all. The fast pace of the show and the slap-stick advetnures filled with flashing lights along with the “rap” about the “big guy in the red suit” took them away from the story itself.

The scene when they travel to the North Pole to save Christmas, was most engaging and has some great movement. I am not sure if one might call it choreography or just Ms Stone being a very smart director. This is a cast of strong and energetic performers. We marveled at their ability to change characters, costumes and personalities and thought they must be exhausted after the one hour of soli entertainment ( no intermission),

The “Wizard of Oz” type of moment at the end of the show where the girl and the mice are awarded medals from Santa, himself, is both meaningful and sweet. They wake up the next morning thinking this was all a dream, but the medals  are around their necks. While they questioned if it did or didn’t, a 7 -year- old audience member yelled out “It Did!!!”. Many grown ups in the audience got a chuckle from that special moment. This is Family Fun with a singalong at the end and will be a theatrical experience for both the parent ( or grandparent) as well as the children ( of all ages, well maybe up to 13)

“Twas The Night Before Christmas) will continue at The Broadway Playhouse located at 175 Eats Chestnut in Chicago through December 30th with performances as follows:

Sun, Nov 4:	10:00am
Sat, Nov 10:	10:00am
Sun, Nov 11:	10:00am
Sat, Nov 17:	10:00am
Sun, Nov 18:	10:00am
Wed, Nov 21:	10:00am
Fri, Nov 23:	10:00am
Sat, Nov 24:	10:00am
Sun, Nov 25:	10:00am
Sat, Dec 1:	10:00am
Sun, Dec 2:	10:00am
Sat, Dec 8:	10:00am
Sun, Dec 9:	10:00am
Sat, Dec 15:	10:00am
Sun, Dec 16:	10:00am
Wed, Dec 19:	10:00am
Thu, Dec 20:	10:00am
Fri, Dec 21:	10:00am
Sat, Dec 22:	10:00am
Sun, Dec 23:	10:00am
Mon, Dec 24:	10:00am
Wed, Dec 26:	10:00am
Thu, Dec 27:	10:00am
Fri, Dec 28:	10:00am
Sat, Dec 29:	10:00am
Sun, Dec 30:	10:00am
To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at “Twas The Night Before Christmas”

Show Type: Childrens

Box Office: 800-775-2000

www.emeraldcitytheatre.com

In conjunction with Broadway In Chicago- info available at www.BroadwayInChicago.com