BWW Reviews: Candlelight Gifts IT'S CHRISTMAS EVERY DAY

It's Christmas Every Day/book by John LaLonde and Debbie Prutsman/music by various artists/directed by John LaLonde/Candlelight Pavilion Dinner Theatre, Claremont/through December 27

Candlelight Pavilion Dinner Theatre's annual Christmas show is an original with concept and script by artistic director John LaLonde incorporating well-known and lesser known holiday tunes and carols. It's Christmas Every Day is a feel-good, forget.your.troubles kind of show. Think the whimsy of White Christmas, the silliness of The Wizard of Oz, the sass of Sister Act, the daring.do of Singin' in the Rain and other MGM movies and even the class of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker Ballet, which are all thrown in for good measure.

It's 1949, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.The Wallis (Jeffrey Warden, Beth Mendoza) own Walli's Christmas Emporium and are about to celebrate 25 years of marriage and the silver anniversary of their ownership of the store. Suddenly they find out their marriage license is invalid. Everything that could go wrong does, like orders of Christmas decorations, when delivered, turn out to be decorations of every other holiday except Christmas. Two nuns (Kate Shore, Rashonda M. Johnson) are upset with their order as they need the decorations to put on a holiday benefit at their parrish ... but never fear... the Wallis take down their store decorations to give to them, and when a leaky roof prevents the benefit from taking place on the church grounds, the Wallis step in once more and offer their store as a showpalace. The Walli daughters Bonnie (Jessie Parmalee) and Billy (Carlin Castellano) have problems of their own. Bonnie is a ballerina and has been let go from a local production of the Nutcracker for missing rehearsals due to working for her father in the store during Christmas rush. Billy's problem is a romantic one. She's the smart one, and all the boys are in love with tall and beautiful Bonnie. But along comes Russian director - or is he? - Dmitry Dingleslav (Emerson Boatwright) and sweeps Bonnie off her feet, allowing hopefuls like store manager Kirby (Frankie Marrone) to date Billy. One chaotic occurrence after another! But it's Christmas, and due to the benevolence of the Wallis, we're bound to get a congenial ending, which includes appearances by - who else but the one and only - Santa and Mrs. Claus.

Songs include such hits as "Silver Bells", "It Happened in Sun Valley", "We Need a Little Christmas", "You're Just Too Marvelous For Words", "Sisters", "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?", "The Christmas Song", "Jingle Bells", and even some religious ones like "Go Tell It on the Mountain", "Still", and of course, "Silent Night".

The ensemble are all dynamite with spectacular voices. Special nod to little CJ Wright who knocked our socks off in The Sounds of Motown last season. Well, he's back with more star quality than ever! Choreography is recreated splendidly by Dustin Ceithamer, who adds some nice specialty effects to the numbers like playing jingle bells on actors' costumes and having them dance with one ski on and one off. Dwight Richard Odle has designed a richly evocative Christmas Emporium and other wintry locales.

As always Candlelight's food and service are impeccable. Try the Bollinger cut of tri-tip. It's tender, delicious and plentiful like a rich filet steak. Special drinks include: The Merriest Martini, Jingle Bell Rock and Wintertime Coffee served in a souvenir mug of the show, all low-priced at $9.

Go see It's Christmas Every Day for fun and surprises, and bring the kids of all ages, who are invited onstage at the end for photos with the Clauses! There is also a special kids' menu for the dinner part of the show.

http://www.candlelightpavilion.com/

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