Copy
Christmas in Blowing Rock
Click on any image to enlarge
Published: 12/17/2009 by Frank Ruggiero
Ensemble Stage, the High Country's newest professional theatre, will be performing its Christmas Show, Christmas in Blowing Rock, this Friday and Saturday at the Blowing Rock School auditorium.
The show was conceived by Lisa Lamont, one of company's co-founders.
"Christmas is my favorite time of year, and I particularly love it now that I live here in the mountains," said Lamont, a Florida native. "I remember as a child I would go to bed on Christmas Eve and wish so hard for it to snow, and I couldn't understand why it never did. Of course, as I got a little older I realized it's not going to snow in Miami no matter how hard I wished."
Lamont said that continual wish was always spurred on by watching the old Perry Como, Bing Crosby and Andy Williams Christmas shows, where everybody wore fancy clothes, and the set looked like it had been snowing.
"Remembering those shows was the inspiration for Christmas in Blowing Rock," she said. "I love Christmas, and those old variety shows were the essence of the holiday to me."
Christmas in Blowing Rock contains Christmas songs and carols, along with musical guests Diana and Sarvis Ridge and a storyteller who reads "The Christmas Gift" to the children's chorus, while a ballet dancer acts out the story with musical accompaniment.
Even though the concept of the show came easy, putting it together was the real challenge for Lamont. Based on Ensemble Stage's desire to have the community involved as much as possible, Lamont waited to actually write the show until the results of an audience survey (taken during the company's Halloween performance of War of the Worlds) were in.
The completed version of the show has 20 Christmas songs and carols. All but one were listed as favorite Christmas songs in the survey.
"The survey even had an impact on what story was told," Lamont said. "Originally, I had the storyteller reading 'The Little Matchstick Girl,' but one of the surveys mentioned a song called 'The Christmas Gift.' I had never herd of it, so I looked it up online and read the verses. It was perfect, so 'The Little Matchstick Girl' was out and 'The Christmas Gift' was in."
The challenges of the show weren't just reserved for the playwright. Its director, Robert Miller Jr., also had some hurdles.
"Because it was important to us having our patrons directly involved with the development of the show, we couldn't even hold auditions until it was written to their specifications," Miller said. "That created a bit of a time crunch."
"The time constraint was something I had to consider in the casting process," Miller said. "Normally, a director can accept a certain amount of (prior commitments on rehearsal days), but in this case, being able to attend all rehearsals was vital."
According to Miller, that commitment has paid off in spades. "Everyone in the cast has made this their top priority, and it shows. We have a Christmas production that our patrons and everyone in the High-Country can be proud of, and they should be proud - they helped create it."
Christmas in Blowing Rock is hosted by Melvin Tunstall III and has a six-member adult chorus, seven-member children's chorus and a ballet dancer, along with musical guests, Diana and Sarvis Ridge and, of course, Santa Claus.
Appearing as storytellers are author and playwright Bob Inman on Friday night and Blowing Rock Mayor J.B. Lawrence on Saturday night. The storyteller for the Saturday matinee is listed as a surprise guest.
"That's something we're only going to publish to our e-mail subscribers," Miller said. "Their support deserves insider knowledge."
