BECCA MARTIN-BROWN
bmartin@nwaonline.com
Conjuring up the camaraderie of the holidays is the whole premise behind a new stage show this season at Silver Dollar City. “Coming Home for Christmas” “is all about bringing your favorite Christmas traditions and memories with family and friends to the stage, including decorating, shopping, cooking Christmas dinner, spending time with loved ones, going to church on Christmas Eve and singing Christmas carols,” says Elise Green, the show’s producer.
“This show has been in the works for a few years,” she goes on. “Bringing a show to the stage can be a long process. We have brainstorming sessions for concepts and ideas of how we can relay a story to our guests. We work with different directors, stage/scenic designers/builders, music arrangers, choreographers, costume designers, audio designers, lighting designers, projection/video content designers.
“We also have the casting process, which we typically do a few months in advance of rehearsals beginning. Silver Dollar City is open March-December, with several different festivals throughout the season, so we have to have a detailed pre-production plan for all of our shows/rehearsal processes. Sometimes we only have a few days to transform a theater into a completely different show.”
“Coming Home for Christmas” features 14 singer/dancers on stage and a four-piece live band, presenting a selection of classic holiday songs “that our guests will be familiar with,” Green says, “all arranged by Susan Draus, the director of the show.”
Two of those performers are Tommie Lee Crutcher, originally from Austin, Texas, and Juli Biagi, from Orange County, Calif., who is show captain.
“I have been singing and dancing as long as I can remember,” says Biagi. “I took a couple years of acting classes in elementary school, and that’s when I knew I wanted to be in theater! I performed in shows for fun all through junior high and high school, then I majored in musical theatre in college, and I’ve been performing professionally since 2019. … This is my second season at the park.”
Crutcher, too, is in his second season with the theme park. He describes the new show as “one big happy family that takes the audience through different holiday traditions that they can relate to when they visit home or have loved ones over for the holidays.”
“I’m enjoying the authenticity of the creative process of the show,” he says. “Our creative team is making sure that each moment in the show is real and honest, so that each and every person who comes to the show can come along on the journey. I find myself just in amazement at all the talent and love in the show.”
“I love this show. Sue and Shannan, our music director and choreographer respectively, have done an incredible job of really making sure we make every song and every moment as authentic and heartfelt as possible,” agrees Biagi. “Even when we’re dancing and clapping and shouting!”
In addition to the new show, which is staged at Red Gold Heritage Hall three times a day during the Christmas season — and four times on Saturdays — other productions include The Living Nativity and the Saloon Frontier Fa-La-La Follies. Rudolph’s Holly Jolly Christmas Light Parade winds through The City each evening with lighted floats, characters, dancers and performers. The park also continues its popular traditions of more than 6.5 million lights, an elaborate eight-story animated Christmas tree, holiday foods and more. Throughout the streets, carolers sing and stroll; Christmas in Midtown offers a display of light tunnels, wreath portals, flying angels and special effects nine stories tall; and stages feature more than 30 shows each day and night, including the longtime favorite “A Dickens’ Christmas Carol.”
To add to the festivities, says Sam Hedrick, director of Food and Beverage, menus offer a variety of seasonal treats such as peppermint ice cream served in a peppermint waffle cone; gingerbread funnel cake; Turkey Calico Skillet, russet potatoes, sweet potatoes and slow roasted turkey in the larger-than-life 6-foot skillet; chicken apple sausage on a brioche bun with pickled red onion slaw; gingerbread dusted churro served with a peppermint dipping sauce; and a gingerbread cinnamon roll.
“Guests have tended to trend towards comfort food with a twist,” Hedrick says. “Take our candied acorn squash mac and cheese. The mac is a great base to build flavors that can complement it, and we can change it by festival. This allows guests to have something to look forward to and discover each time they visit. This coupled with our tasting passport allows guests to explore the park and discover new foods throughout.”
__
FAQ
An Old Time Christmas
WHEN — Through Dec. 30
WHERE — Silver Dollar City in Branson, Mo.
COST — Starts at $85
INFO — silverdollarcity.com
