Once the swirling snow globe of wonder that is PCPA’s Marian Theatre shuts its doors, the lights dim on its 51st season’s debut holiday production, and the magic of the season comes alive. The original, new musical features a fantastical heroine’s journey that begins and ends with the joyous spirit of the Christmas season, from a booming, jovial Santa Claus, to the starry-eyed orphan who hopes and believes in him.
This heartwarming story comes from the animated family film Christmas is Here Again, penned by Robert Zappio. Inspired by the storytelling of his father Marco and grandfather Rocco, the Zappia family story seeks to encase the magic and spirit of the Christmas season complete with Santa Claus, elves, reindeer, and even a villain reminiscent of classic animated holiday tales.
In the spirit of the Zappia’s original story, the Pacific Conservatory Theatre (PCPA) brought Robert Zappia, an accomplished producer and writer, together with PCPA resident artist and artistic associate Brad Carroll and musical theater composer Jeremy Mann. The story was expanded in several ways to both fit a musical theater production and appeal to more than just the youngest in the family. The result is an epic holiday adventure that can yield laughter or tears from the most heard-hearted scrooge among us.
Beginning in a humble orphanage, Christmas is Here Again is about the journey of the orphan Sophiana (Charlette Rawls), who helps retrieve the spirit of Christmas from a dastardly villain. The holiday is all but unknown by Sophiana and her peers at the orphanage. The evening of Dec. 24 and the following morning are marked as an evil day, when “The Dark One” kidnaps unsuspecting children and takes them away forever.
In an effort to comfort her friends, Sophiana sings the song “It’s Easy to Dream,” advising them to aspire to their grandest hopes. Her teacher, Miss Victoria (Elizabeth Stuart), is more than welcoming to this lesson as she and the rest of the children join the song. Rawls, Stuart, and the fantastic ensemble actors perfectly capture the energy of a rambunctious class kept inside on a snowy day in this song.
The terse headmistress of the orphanage, Miss Dowdy (Kitty Balay), interrupts their imaginative song, punishing Sophiana for not recognizing the grave truth of the terrible day. In detention, the young orphan relates her frustrations with the custodian Nick (Andrew Philpot), whose frosty beard and twinkling eye should set off red and white flags, that he might be more than just a custodian. In an attempt to comfort the upset girl, Nick tells her of a time when Dec. 24 and 25 were revered as days of celebration, but he’s cut short when Miss Dowdy enters the scene and scolds them both again.
When left to sweep the cellar of the orphanage by herself, Sophiana’s intuition to believe begins having a profound effect. She is magically transported to a snowy glade, where a large block of ice has entombed a pointy-eared fellow clad in green. After rescuing him from the icy trap, Sophiana is introduced to Paul Rocco (Jonathan Hoover), the chief of Santa’s elves. When confronted by the fact that Sophiana has no clue about Santa or Christmas, he goes into the wonderfully acrobatic song “The Great Santa Claus.” Hoover taps into all of his elfishness to make Paul Rocco a fun and worthy companion as Sophia’s adventure begins.
The two return to the orphanage where Miss Victoria, Miss Dowdy, and Nick have assumed the worst: Sophiana had been kidnapped by “The Dark One.” All are elated upon seeing each other, but no more so than Paul Rocco, who jumps into Nick’s arms for a hug, yelling “Santa!” This is when the secret can no longer be held from Sophiana. In a colorful and fantastic flashback, she learns of her elders’ past, in which Nick was Santa Claus, Miss Victoria was Mrs. Claus, and Miss Dowdy was the overseer of toy-making operations.
Sophiana learns in the flashback that Christmas was taken by the dastardly Krad (Billy Breed), formerly the elf in charge of all the coal given to naughty children. When Santa makes the bold decision to stop punishing naughty children with coal, Krad goes ballistic and steals Santa’s magic toy sack, which holds the magic of the holiday in its threads. Upon returning to the present, Sophiana declares that she and Paul Rocco will begin the quest to retrieve the magic sack and save Christmas with the epitomizing number “You Have to Believe.”
The adventure is filled with trials and tribulations in places far away and strange. Sophiana and Paul Rocco are soon met by the unsure reindeer Dart (Chad Patterson), who wants nothing more than to fly. Later come the duo Buster the fox (George Walker) and Charlee the Polar Bear (Erik Stein). Walker and Stein embody the comedic duo with plenty of animal nature, adding laughs and giggles along the way to confront Krad and recover the magic bag. Walker definitely steals the show with Buster’s ode to ammonite and other gems when the group falls into a cave of jewels.
The production includes the use of several projection screens placed in rows on the back of the stage. This aspect, designed by PCPA projection designer Adam Flemming, is reminiscent of Mike Giaimo’s original artwork from the animated version of the story. These screens make moments like an avalanche and the subsequent escape from a river of lava dynamic and exciting events for the audience watching the adventure, as the screens move and change.
Carroll and Mann’s wonderful score is supplemented fantastically by the combined efforts of the scenic designer DeAnne Kennedy, costume designer Marcy Froehlich, and choreography by Michael Jenkinson. From dancing candy canes to Santa’s sleigh, the complete immersion into this magical holiday land is an ideal experience for families with one or many imaginative youngsters.
Arts Editor Joe Payne believes anything is possible. Contact him at [email protected].
