|
Tuesday, 29 November 2005 10:18 |
| Meg Hale
|
There is just something about Christmas that makes you want to watch all of those arguably cheesy holiday episodes of television shows that you watched as a child.
It just is not Christmas until you have seen Charlie Brown decorate the stick-thin tree, laughed when Ralphie ?®shoots his eye out?∆ and cried when Tiny Tim says ?®God bless us, every one.?∆
The new show performed by Theatre UNC Asheville is ?®A Little House Christmas.?∆ The play is adapted by James DeVita from the novels by Laura Ingalls Wilder about her childhood. Directed by Danelle Smith, visiting assistant drama professor, it is the story of how the Ingalls family gets through one particular Christmas when a storm causes the river to rise so high that Santa Claus cannot cross it to bring Laura Ingalls (Kelly McNeely) and her sister Mary (Lauren Jeffries) their presents.
The play is full of sweet and endearing moments between Ma and Pa Ingalls (Jessica Taylor and Forrest Mason) and their children. It is a very Christmas-play, complete with a realization of the true meaning of Christmas and a Christmas miracle. It is the perfect thing to get a person in the spirit of the holidays?Ò even though the play??s run is right before Thanksgiving instead of Christmas. Well, if the mall cannot tell the difference between the holidays, why should we have to wait on theatre until the appropriate month?
I must say, the play did remind me of the television show that I watched as a child. I was somewhat surprised that Laura and Mary did not run down a flower-covered hill at the end of the show. Laura was her normal, sweet, spunky self. She was my favorite character when I read the books in elementary school, but then, she was everybody??s favorite. Something I noticed in the play that I had not previously realized was Laura??s propensity for over-eating. The play opens with her eating gingerbread and popcorn decorations that were supposed to be for the Christmas tree. Come to think of it, I believe I remember Laura getting in trouble for eating all of the molasses from the ice-box. I wonder if Laura was supposed to be a pudgy child, rather than the skinny Melissa Gilbert we all associated with her image.
The show has some terrific acting moments. I was particularly taken aback by the acting abilities of Lauren Jeffries. During one scene, the women of the family are worried because Pa has been gone, trying to cross the river, longer than he said he would be. Jeffries?? face was covered with real tears throughout the whole scene.
My favorite character, though, was Uncle Edwards, a man from town with no family, whom the Ingalls invite to spend Christmas with them. Played by Gregory Roberts-Gassler, Edwards reminded me of the uncle that everybody has who is burly, but funny and tells the best stories. One can tell that Roberts-Gassler really had fun with this role. He was also one of three actors who all learned to play instruments for their roles.
The set is probably the most amazing part of the show, however. The Theatre UNCA set construction team, led by designer Ashleigh Poteat, did a sensational job of transforming Carol Belk Theatre into a prairie house in the pioneer 1800s, complete with the scent of pine trees and a lofted roof, suspended from the grid.
There were little moments of confusion to me in the show. There are several characters who appear in the plot for seemingly no purpose. The Ingalls throw a Christmas party, to which they invite some of their friends from town, such as the Olsens. They also invite Pa??s brother, who has not spoken since returning from war. These characters seemed to be some of the most interesting characters in the play, but they disappear shortly after the beginning of the second act. It also seemed weird that there were two acts for the show, which is only about an hour and 15 minutes long.
Despite these little mysteries, I thought the show was swell and really got me in the mood to eat turkey, sing carols and be with my family. I give ?®A Little House Christmas?∆ four of my six planets.
|
