A cast of nearly 40 dancers, singers and musicians performed for a near-capacity crowd on Dec. 9 at the matinee on Sunday afternoon. Several young greeters in seasonal costumes, and a table of baked goods met people at the community centre as they entered the venue.
Kenneth Brown
of The Clarion
A recent stage production focusing on the sights and sounds of Christmas has captivated audiences in Kindersley and put them in the spirit of the season.
The Christmas Spectacular 2018 took place from Dec. 7 to 9 at the Norman Ritchie Community Centre, and it was presented by Dahling Productions. There were four performances over three days and the two evening performances included a supper before the show.
A cast of nearly 40 dancers, singers and musicians performed for a near-capacity crowd on Dec. 9 at the matinee on Sunday afternoon. Several young greeters in seasonal costumes, and a table of baked goods met people at the community centre as they entered the venue.
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It was the sixth annual Christmas event by Dahling Productions, a theatre company that also presents a show in the warmer months. Richelle Dahl, the show’s producer and director, owns Dahling Productions. Dahl was also one of the show’s dance choreographers.
Paul Palynchuk, one of the cast members, welcomed people to the Christmas Spectacular as the show commenced. A group of dancers provided the initial entertainment as part of the show. The performance was a true Christmas variety show.
Paula Haubrich shared her vocal talents with the crowd on more than one occasion during the performance, but her opening carol number was accompanied by pianist Melissa Hynd. The piano guru later returned to play and sing her version of “White Christmas” for all in attendance.
Before Hynd’s solo performance, vocalists Palynchuk, Connor Glover and Alex Urlando sang “Silent Night” accompanied by pianist Aynsley Wagner and violinist Lyle Carbert. Wagner was the musical director for the production.
The crowd reacted with applause as Palynchuk and Chantal McDougall began a performance of “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” accompanied by several musicians. Hynd was joined on stage by Steve Mealey on clarinet, Brett Becker on upright bass and Joe-el Desjarlais on drums for the duet performance.
After a group of about eight penguins did a little dance, Santa Claus made an appearance with his head elf as he was preparing for Christmas. The middle to late part of the production featured several scenes related to St. Nick and his annual trip around the world.
Santa wanted to make sure everything was in order as he told his head elf it was important to ensure gifts for children in South America do not end up going to Africa. There was not a lot of acting in the production, but it came in spurts.
The dancers took over for much of the production during the scenes with Santa’s helpers. Gifts came to life on stage as the elves were preparing for Santa’s big flight. The elves were invited to have cookies and milk with Santa and Mrs. Claus, but they first had to finish working.
Gingerbread cookies came to live on stage as two bakers at the North Pole aused a giant spatula to get the cookies up and dancing around. As direction was later given to make sure the reindeer were ready, the reindeer performed a tap number on stage. For the record, there were nine reindeer including Rudolph.
The song and dance routines continued during the performance. Pianist Michelle Andrew accompanied her daughter Hannah and Reille Longtin in a version of “When I Think Upon Christmas.” The production did not end there.
A cast of nearly 40 dancers, singers and musicians performed for a near-capacity crowd on Dec. 9 at the matinee on Sunday afternoon. Several young greeters in seasonal costumes, and a table of baked goods met people at the community centre as they entered the venue.
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