Baby Girl From Nazarene Family Subs For Jesus In Toronto Christmas Pageant

Last Sunday morning, Angela Gentili called the director of The Christmas Story at the Church of the Holy Trinity to tell her that Jesus, aka her 8-month-old son Samuel, was sick and would not be showing up for the December 10th afternoon performance of the Nativity Play.

The director, Susan Watson, was resigned to using the back-up doll when 40 minutes before show time the head usher excitedly told her that he had found a 10-month baby girl to play Jesus and that her parents were from Nazareth!

The head usher was putting up signage on the stage door when he encountered Reem and Anan Mazzawi who had arrived early with their daughters Noor and baby Tala. He jokingly suggested the baby could be Jesus. When word spread backstage that the scheduled baby had called in sick, he doubled back to find them, this time at the main entrance.

What neither the director, nor the head usher, had known was that Tala came from a line of performers. Her grandparents run a theatre and dance troupe in Nazareth and her mother has a PhD in education and drama therapy. Reem and Anan have been living together in Canada for 6 years. On their way to the pageant they had been joking that maybe their younger daughter could play Jesus - but probably not - because she was a girl.

Reem fed Tala some mashed banana in the change room so she wouldn't be hungry during the show and the wardrobe mistress brought a costume. Tala did a star turn as Jesus, not fussing once and interacting on cue with all the performers, as if she had been rehearsing for weeks!

In the 80-year-history of The Christmas Story at the Church of the Holy Trinity, it's not unheard of for last-minute babies to be plucked from the audience, or even the Eaton Centre. What really is a first is for baby Jesus to arrive at the doorstep with a family from Nazareth.

As one audience member commented, it was a "perfect Toronto moment."

PS: Don't worry, Samuel Chayse will still get the opportunity to play Jesus for one of the upcoming 9 performances.

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