Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Hear comes Christmas
From annual Nutcracker performances to a parade of musical events, seasonal cheer is here
As early as August, aspiring dancers showed up at Little Rock’s Ballet Arkansas, ready to audition for a role in The Nutcracker. For Fort Smith’s Western Arkansas Ballet, tryouts started in September. For months, dancers listened to the music and practiced their moves, preparing for just a few days of performances.
The people who work on those shows have a confession to make: By December, when they’re out at the mall and they hear “Trepak,” a song for one of the ballet’s dances, on the department store public address system, they groan a little.
“At the very beginning, the music starts playing in the rehearsal studios and we love it,” said Karen Bassett, executive director of Ballet Arkansas. “We’re like, ‘Awww, The Nutcracker.’ Then a month later we’re going, ‘Ugh. The Nutcracker.’”
But they keep at it, year after year, because they love ballet, they love Tchaikovsky and they love to look out into the audience and see a gathering of grandparents and grandchildren, enjoying a community tradition.
Melissa Schoenfeld, executive artistic director of the Fort Smith ballet company, described what makes the many months of work and “Sugar Plum Fairy” overload worth it.
“When we get down to the theater, and it’s performance time, Christmas does get exciting,” she said.
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL
There’s scarcely an afternoon or evening in Arkansas this month where there won’t be some kind of holiday program. School choirs will be singing. Church bells will be ringing. There’ll be music in museums, Broadway in Maumelle and so, so many
Nutcrackers.
Even as Christmas decorations keep going up earlier and earlier and “the season” creeps into early November (and even late October), the public’s appetite for yuletide remains undiminished. If anything, the
supply keeps expanding to meet a demand.
That’s one way to explain the variety of Christmas entertainment available around the state this year.
Just on Saturday alone, an Arkansan could go see The Nutcracker (by either Ballet Arkansas or Western Arkansas Ballet), the Arkansas Chamber Singers’ “The Peace of Christmas” concert at the Old State House Museum in Little Rock, the Gaither family’s Christmas Homecoming show at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock, the Arkansas Arts Center Children’s Theatre’s production of The Gingerbread Man or Red Octopus Theater’s annual
Pagans on Bobsleds at The Public Theater in Little Rock. Even more options will be available in the two weeks leading up to Christmas Day, with Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville alone hosting the a cappella group Home Free, pianist Jim Brickman and a musical version of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
In other words, there’ll be performances available for those craving something new and unusual to break out of the Christmas rut, and shows for those who’ve been waiting all year to share an old favorite with their children.
The entertainers like to get out and watch their competition. Bassett said she looks forward each December to the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra’s “Holiday Pops” concert, and going to see the Old State House’s decorations. “But then I tend to be one of those over-decorators,” she said, laughing. “I have a tabletop tree in every room in my house.”
HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS
Even in the classic Christmas entertainment, there are always tweaks. Bassett said Ballet Arkansas’
Nutcracker has been updated, with new choreography for some of the dances, and a few new costumes. (“We have a new tutu for The Doll,” she said.)
But the classics remain the classics for a reason. Ballet Arkansas has been performing The Nutcracker since the 1970s — and even farther back in an earlier incarnation as the Little Rock Civic Ballet.
Schoenfeld said that Western Arkansas Ballet is celebrating its 30th anniversary of staging The Nutcracker.
And she would know, since she has been the company’s executive director for 28 of those years.
Bassett and Schoenfeld said they’ve seen kids grow up and become parents in the time they’ve been involved with their companies. And they’ve seen audience members move from the seats to the stage, as part of both ballets’ longstanding tradition of mixing locals with the featured dancers. ( In fact, Bassett spent five years in The Nutcracker playing The French Mom.)
FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS
Community involvement has always played a big part in the popularity of holiday events. People go see a hand bell choir because mom’s performing, or church members warm up their voices and go caroling around the neighborhood.
That’s one of the inspirations behind radio station KABZ- FM, 103.7’ s annual “Christmas Karaoke” show at Verizon, heading into its 11th year on Dec. 18. Jeremy Flynn, the station’s director of marketing and events, said that on-air talent from TV stations KATV, KARK, KTHV, KLRT and KABZ will all be singing to benefit Youth Home Inc.
When asked if he’d be taking a crack at a carol, Flynn laughed.
“I like to keep myself free to put out fires.”
One of the highlights of “Christmas Celebrity Karaoke” each year has been KATV meteorologist Ned Perme’s performance, accompanied by a band that keeps expanding. Flynn estimated that Perme’s combo is now up to nine pieces, including a steel guitar. The sets have been so popular that the weatherman will have a separate show, “Christmastime in Arkansas,” on Dec. 19 at Hot Springs Convention Center’s Horner Hall. Arkansas’ Justin Moore also performs at the concert, a benefit for the Arkansas Rice Depot.
The Verizon show’s longtime attendees can expect a few revisions.
“Instead of doing the show on the floor we’ve actually moved to the end of the bowl to be able to use Verizon’s elevated seating to increase our sightlines,” Flynn said. “The space is dressed appropriately. We usually use their theater setup. We want that intimate setting but we also want to be in a room that can deliver a highly produced, high-caliber event.”
OUT-OF-TOWN GUESTS
Putting on a professionalquality show is important to a lot of the Arkansas troupes performing in the weeks ahead. Bassett and Schoenfeld point to the importance of having trained dancers in their ballets.
“We find a lot of times people here aren’t going to go outside of Fort Smith to see professional dance, so we try to bring that to them any way we can,” Schoenfeld said.
There are ample opportunities to see big-time touring acts this month, too. At 2 p.m. today, the Fowler Center at Arkansas State University at Jonesboro will host the Boston Brass. And on Dec. 17, perennially popular Trans-Siberian Orchestra will be putting on “The Ghosts of Christmas Eve” at Verizon.
One of the more unusual and exciting productions coming through the state again this year is Neil Berg’s Broadway Holiday, Dec. 1820, at the Maumelle Performing Arts Center. Chuck Wagner, the veteran TV and stage star at the center of Berg’s ensemble, described the performance as having “plenty of Broadway … but you’ll recognize it as a holiday show.”
“It’s always a treat to do these shows,” Wagner said. “A Neil Berg show is already spectacular and then you add the holidays and it becomes a beautiful experience.”
In addition to seasonal Broadway songs like “We Need a Little Christmas” from Mame, Wagner said Berg’s set list includes carols like “O Holy Night,” which the singer is tackling himself this year — high notes included.
“We’re playing around with the key,” he said, laughing.
DO YOU HEAR WHAT I HEAR?
Wagner said he’d be “stepping out of my comfort zone” a little to sing a song from How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Making sure that there’s something in a holiday show that children will respond to is important to the performers.
Bassett said of The Nutcracker, “It’s not just a ballet, it’s a holiday tradition. For most people, if they’re ever going to see one ballet, it’s usually The Nutcracker.”
Keith Smith, associate director of the Arkansas Arts Center’s Children’s Theatre, takes that a step further, aiming to put on shows for kids that will be fresh even to their parents.
Of the company’s The Gingerbread Man, Smith said, “Whether they are original stories or adaptations of classics, more often than not, the plays we present to our audience at this time of year have never been seen before. These plays are fresh and new, from their words and music and incredible songs to their visual images designed and crafted by a talented and devoted company of artists.”
Smith made this claim as an avowed fan of Christmas movies like It’s a Wonderful Life and The Bishop’s Wife, and holiday records like Sting’s If On a Winter’s Night …. Even though the singers, dancers and directors of this year’s Arkansas Christmas events get so immersed in their own holiday productions that the songs and stories sometimes fade into background noise, they remain avid consumers as well.
When asked whether it ever feels odd to start rehearsing Christmas songs months ahead of Dec. 25, Wagner spoke for every entertainer who can summon the spirit of the season, even when it’s 80 degrees outside.
“Oh, not really,” he said. “When you’ve lived a relatively long time, the years seem shorter and shorter. And here’s the thing: In today’s nervous world, it’s always a good time to spread songs of love and peace.”
Surely somewhere in the Natural State, a choir is hearing Wagner’s words and singing “Alleluia.”