Pacific Conservatory Theatre Presents CHRISTMAS IS HERE AGAIN, Now thru 12/24

A magical new musical opens the Pacific Conservatory Theatre's 51st Season - the world premiere production of Renegade Animation's Christmas Is Here Again. This frolicsome adventure for the entire family is a new stage musical by Brad Carroll and Jeremy Mann based on the film of the same name written and directed by Robert Zappia. Christmas is Here Again plays in the Marian Theatre today, November 13 - December 24, 2014.

Sophiana (Charlette Rawls) is an orphan girl who lives in a time when there is no Christmas. She learns that a magic sack that belonged to Santa was stolen 30 years ago by the sinister Krad (Billy Breed). She is joined on her journey to retrieve the magic sack by an unlikely band of adventurers - Santa's former head elf, Paul Rocco (Jonathan Hoover), a young reindeer, Dart (Chad Patterson), a shifty fox, Buster (George Walker), and a polar bear, Charlee (Erik Stein*). Their Ozian journey takes them from snowy mountain peaks, into a cave of jewels, and to an underground lava flow. Enhancing the scenic elements is the incorporation of projected animation artwork that was created by Oscar winner Mike Giaimo (Frozen). Projection Designer is Adam Flemming.

The musical also features Resident Actors Andrew Philpot* as Nick, Kitty Balay* as Miss Dowdy, and Elizabeth Stuart* as Miss Victoria. The Design team includes Choreographer Michael Jenkinson, Musical Director Callum Morris, Scenic Designer DeAnne Kennedy, Costume Designer Marcy Froehlich, Lighting Designer Jennifer 'Z' Zornow, Sound Designer Elisabeth Rebel, and Production Stage Manager Jahana Azodi*.

Director Roger DeLaurier said that the heart of the story is about hope and needing to believe, even when you don't know what the answer is. Our hero, Sophiana, represents the leaders among us, the person who takes the lead and says "follow me!" "It usually takes a leader to start moving toward this thing that's important," DeLaurier said. Though they may not know how or why, but are willing to say, "I'm going to figure out how to make it happen."

Christmas Is Here Again is a brand new stage adaptation of the 2007 animated feature film of the same name produced by Renegade Animation. Written and directed by Robert Zappia, he recalls the Christmastime stories his father would tell his sister and himself when they were children. The story would grow year after year as Zappia's father made up the adventure on the spot. Over the years it became a family tradition singing songs and telling "the" story. When Robert decided to produce it as an animated feature he secured some of the industry's top stars for the voice actors: Ed Asner, Andy Griffith, Kathy Bates, Jay Leno, and Shirley Jones, among others.

A year after its release, Renegade Animation's co-founder Ashley Postlewaite (former PCPA Development Director) approached Brad Carroll to adapt the feature for the stage. Work began in earnest four years ago and included a series of workshops with the goal to maintain the spirit of the animation's story, but to expand and elevate it to a fully realized musical theatre production.

PCPA is proud and excited to present this world premiere for the holidays - Christmas Is Here Again!

Children 4 years old may attend any of the matinee performances. All other performances, children must be at least 5 years old.

Also, coming up in PCPA's 51st Season is Peter and the Starcatcher, the grownup's prequel to Peter Pan. This multi-Tony winner by Rick Elice turns the century-old legend of Peter Pan on its head with a madly theatrical and ingenious reboot of how a wretched orphan became The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up. A dozen actors play more than one hundred characters, employing inspired stagecraft and the limitless possibilities of imagination. Peter and the Starcatcher plays February 12 - March 1, 2015 in Santa Maria and August 21 - September 13 in the Solvang Festival Theater.

The Penelopiad, Margaret Atwood's new stage adaptation of her own wry, witty and wise novel, plays in the intimate Severson Theatre March 5 - 22, 2015. In what almost amounts to a theatrical Olympiad, Penelope and her wronged maids tell their side of the story as she waited 20 years, devoted and dutiful, for the return of her husband Odysseus from the Trojan War. Full of music, poetry and movement, this new telling of an ancient story echoes from the hearts of the maids with the fluidity of the original mythic material and resonance for today.

Professor Henry Higgins makes a wager that he can raise a lowly Cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, to the status of a high-society debutante in Lerner and Loewe's hit musical, My Fair Lady. Based on Bernard Shaw's 1912 play Pygmalion, My Fair Lady features such classic musical numbers as "Wouldn't It Be Loverly?", "The Rain In Spain", and "I Could Have Danced All Night". My Fair Lady will play in the Marian Theatre April 23 - May 10, 2015, then in the Solvang Festival Theater June 11 - July 12.

Out of a dungeon of despair, the story of knight errant Don Quixote rises in triumphant transformation in the classic musical Man of La Mancha, with a book by Dale Wasserman, lyrics by Joe Darion and music by Mitch Leigh. Dare to dream the impossible dream with this timeless, tough, and tuneful celebration of the human spirit. Man of La Mancha plays in the Marian Theatre July 8 & 11, 2015, then under the unreachable stars in the Solvang Festival Theater July 17 - August 16.

In Other Desert Cities, following a long absence, a break-down and a break-up, writer Brooke Wyeth returns to her Reaganite parents' Palm Springs enclave for the holidays. But the warm desert air turns chilly this Christmas Eve when news of Brooke's upcoming memoir threatens to revive the most painful chapter of the family's history. Jon Robin Baitz's Other Desert Cities was a Pulitzer finalist, and received 5 Tony nominations. It plays in the Severson Theatre September 18 - October 3.

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