You know that moment in the Charlie Brown Christmas TV special when Linus stands in the spotlight on stage and recites the story of Jesus' birth and says "That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown" and you get a little lump in your throat?
I got the same feeling watching Seattle Public Theater's production of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever when grubby, feisty little Gladys Herdman, playing the herald angel, springs up, points a painted star at the huddled shepherds and shouts, "Hey! Hey! Unto you a child is born! It's Jesus, and he's in the barn. Go see him! Go on! Go! … SHAZAM!"
This delightful performance combines the true meaning of Christmas with fast-paced humor, slapstick antics and serious contemplation.
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever – abbreviated to BXPE – is based on a 1971 book by Barbara Robinson. She adapted it as a play, which had its world premiere at Seattle Children's Theatre in 1982. Seattle Public Theater's Artistic and Educational Director Shana Bestock was in the 1983 production as a fourth grader, and has been directing the SPT version for 12 years. It's clearly a labor of love for her, combining a few professional adult actors with talented young people trained in the theater's youth program.
The play is alternately titled The Worst Kids in the World for good reason. It opens with a group of sheltered Sunday school students – and one very self-righteous one – rejoicing that church is one place they can escape the six obnoxiously scary Herdman kids. That is until one of them tells the Herdmans that they get delicious snacks at Sunday school. The delinquents descend on the church, clad in torn black clothes, sporting piercings, smoking cigars and pushing their weight around. To the consternation of the kids and the confusion of the substitute pageant director, they volunteer for the main roles of Mary, Joseph and the angels.
They've never heard the Christmas story, and Imogene, cast as Mary, is incredulous that a pregnant woman and her husband would be turned away from the inn and stuck in a stable. They launch into their parts with innocent gusto, turning the traditional pageant on its head but actually getting closer to the true picture of Mary and Joseph as ragged, weary refugees. No one will let the wild Imogene cradle their real, live baby, so they use a doll, which Imogene swings around by its feet – until the end, when the impact of the story hits her and she carefully swaddles the imaginary infant.
As the angels sing with candles in their hands and the lights are low and the narrator reads, "and Mary pondered these things in her heart," Imogene begins to really cry. Maybe you'll have a little tear in your eye also.
Ingraham High School student Olivia Sterne is brilliant as Imogene, and Greenwood Elementary School fifth grader Zoe Poole is a perfect Gladys. It's difficult to single them out because all of the actors do a great job in a production that never falters or drags and is equally fun for children, teens and parents.
To paraphrase Gladys: Hey! Hey! The BXPE is in that charming brick Bathhouse Theater at Green Lake. Go see it! Go on! Go! … SHAZAM!"
Photo by Paul Bestock – The Herdman Family: Samuel Trott, Jake Gordon, Olivia Sterne (seated), Zoë Poole, Frank Garland and Aliza Cosgrove.
