December Theatre Happenings on the California Central Coast

As we turn the page on the calendar to December and start giving SERIOUS consideration as to what we will be getting for our friends and family for Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, Yule, Festivus, or whatever other Holiday you might celebrate at this time of year - why not consider giving the gift of live theatre?  The selection is certainly diverse - and there are options to meet virtually every budget and taste!

In Oceano, The Great American Melodrama & Vaudeville (www.americanmelodrama.com) presents their Holiday Extravaganza through December 31, including Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, and Little Red Riding Hood - a fractured fairy-tale opera by Marian Partee and Jordan Richardson, along with a holiday Vaudeville Revue filled with music of the season.

For anyone not familiar with A Christmas Carol, it is the story of Ebenezer Scrooge (Billy Breed), a stingy, old miser who professes that Christmas is a "Humbug!" despite the pleadings of his nephew, Fred (Andrew Beck) or anyone else who breathes the Holiday spirit near him, including two charity workers (Chuck McLane and Megan C.C. Walker) who come looking for donations for the poor.  Not even his poor clerk Bob Cratchit (George Walker) can get an extra lump of coal out of him to heat their chilly office on the day before Christmas.

Scrooge soon learns that there is more to life than money when the tortured ghost of his dead partner Jacob Marley (John Keating) arrives for a visit.  Marley informs Scrooge that to escape his own dreadful fate, three more spirits will visit.  Moments later the first spirit arrives in the guise of a mysterious woman in white, The Ghost of Christmas Past (Katie Worley), who shows Scrooge important scenes from his past, including a visit from his young sister, Fan (Kerry DiMaggio).

Scrooge next meets The Ghost of Christmas Present (Chuck McLane), the personification of the Christmas spirit.  This ghost shows him present holiday happenings, including a look into the home of Bob Cratchit and his wife (Jacqueline Hildebrand) and children (played by local young performers Liam G. Lazarich and Kimberly White of Arroyo Grande, Nathan and Andrew Miklas of Oceano, and Bailey Durnin, Chase Kelly, Mia Levy, and Haley Zahn of Santa Maria).

Finally The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, a silent, ominous specter, arrives to show Scrooge how his bitter, friendless life might turn out.  All of these magical visits lead to heart-warming scenes of redemption and reunion as Scrooge finds his Christmas spirit.  A Christmas Carol is directed by Erik Stein, with set design by Eric Hoit, lighting design by Gary Adams and costume and wig design by Jim Tanner.  [Photo by Gary Adams - Chuck McLane as The Ghost of Christmas Present and Billy Breed as Scrooge]

Following A Christmas Carol at each performance is the brand new fractured fairy-tale musical, Little Red Riding Hood, written by Marian Partee and Jordan Richardson.  Little Red (Katie Worley) is a teenage girl who spends more time texting on her cell phone than talking to her mother (Bree Murphy).  In frustration, Mother sends Red off to visit her Grandmother in Ye Olde Folks Home, where Fairy Tale characters live in retirement.  Along the way Red meets Junior Wolf (John Keating), who is a vegetarian and so a disappointment to his father, Big Bad Wolf (George Walker).  The two teenagers become friends, and when Big Bad Wolf threatens the residents of Ye Olde Folks Home, Red and Junior join forces to aid the senior citizens in the fight of their lives.  Loads of laughs await the audience in this hilarious satire, directed by Eric Hoit with musical direction and accompaniment by Jordan Richardson.

Rounding out the evening is the Holiday Vaudeville Revue, directed by Suzy King with choreography by Michael Jenkinson.  Full of nostalgic songs to warm your heart and comic ones to make you laugh, this revue promises to send everyone out into the night with a smile on their lips and a song in their hearts.  You don't want to miss audience favorites "The Rappin' Reindeer" and the famous Melodrama Waterglass Orchestra!  Fun and frivolity will be experienced by thousands of family and friends as they celebrate a traditional holiday season at The Great American Melodrama.

The Melodrama offers great food, snacks, desserts, beer & wine at the in-house pub.  Many shows are added to the regular schedule to accommodate the demand for this show.  A performance calendar may be found at www.americanmelodrama.com.  Tickets are selling fast, so reserve now!  For information on show times  and reservations, call the Melodrama Box Office at 489-2499.  The Great American Melodrama has been presenting professional family entertainment since 1975 at its location on Highway 1 in Oceano, three miles south of Pismo Beach.

The Studio Players at the Studio of Performing Arts (www.thestudioofperformingarts.com) in Arroyo Grande, presents A Night Before Christmas December 18 & 19 at the Spanos Theatre (www.pacslo.org) on Cal Poly campus in San Luis Obispo.

At the Clark Center (www.clarkcenter.org), also located in the Village of Arroyo Grande, a number of quality entertainment opportunities will be presented in the weeks ahead, including the Pismo Beach Youth Theater's (www.pismobeachyouththeater.com) Annie December 11 & 12 (Black Box Theater) and Arroyo Grande High School's Footloose December 11 & 12 (Mainstage Theater).

The Santa Maria Civic Theatre (www.smct.org) is presenting the Alex Gottlieb comedy Wake Up, Darling through December 12.  They will be holding auditions for their next show, Mousetrap, on December 7 & 8, with performances scheduled for February 5-27.

Also located in Santa Maria, the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts (www.pcpa.org), the Central Coast's Resident Professional Theatre Company, has opened their 2009/10 season with C.S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which runs through December 23 at the Marian Theatre in Santa Maria.

The San Luis Obispo Little Theatre's (www.slolittletheatre.org) How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying runs through December 20, and they will be presenting a children's theatre production of A Little Princess January 15-31 in 2010.

The God Is Still Speaking Players (check them out on Facebook or at www.sloucc.org) recently completed their readers' theatre production of Archibald MacLeish's Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning J.B. - a poetic dramatization of the story of Job, at the San Luis Obispo United Church of Christ.  Auditions for a collaborative effort with Bent Angel Productions on a readers' theatre production of 12 Angry Men will be held January 12 & 13, with performances February 19-21.

Kelrik Productions (www.kelrikproductions.com), also located in San Luis Obispo, recently completed a successful run of the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning production of RENT at the Spanos Theatre on the Cal Poly campus.  Stay tuned for what Erik Austin & Co will be doing next!

Providing a variety of live entertainment options, the Cal Poly Performing Arts Center (www.pacslo.org) is proud to present the SLO Civic Ballet's The Nutcracker December 12 & 13.

The North County Dance and Performing Arts Foundation and Class Act Dance (www.classactdance.com/nutcracker) will be presenting The Nutcracker Ballet through December 13 at the Templeton Performing Arts Center.

The Houselights Theatre (www.houselightstheatre.org) in Cambria completed a remount run of their popular summer musical Always ... Patsy Cline at the Spanos Theatre on the Cal Poly campus the end of August.  Stay tuned for details concerning their next show.

The Pewter Plough Playhouse (www.pewterploughplayhouse.org), also in Cambria, will hold a staged reading of a new play, Bridging the Gap, December 11-13, and then open the New Year with a production of Jean Kerr's heartwarming comedy Finishing Touches that will run January 15 through February 28.

And in Paso Robles, the Pioneer Players (www.pioneerplayers.org) have held auditions for their next production, Oliver, scheduled to be presented January 15-30 of 2010.

So, as you run around in the month ahead, doing your Holiday shopping and attending various and assorted Holiday activities and events - I trust you will want to add at least a couple of these live theatre entertainment options to your schedule.

See ya' at the theatre!

Curt Miner ... your BroadwayWorld.com guy on the ground with the California Central Coast theatre "news & views"