Mrs. Claus's Kitchen, Dec. 2-20 at Presentation House Theatre. Tickets: $16-$36, available online at phtheatre.org or by calling the box office at 604-990-3474.
Many people keep boxes of shiny baubles and strings of lights tucked away in the closet until the holiday season arrives, but Edgemont Village resident Bill Allman needs a bit more storage space for his collection of festive decorations. The self-professed "Christmas nut" is the proud owner of a full-sized one horse open sleigh.
"The same kind that Santa Claus flies," he explains. His sleigh is out of storage now and will appear on stage in the holiday musical Mrs. Claus's Kitchen at Presentation House Theatre throughout December. Co-written by Allman, along with Alan Marriott and Kevin O'Brien, the show premiered at Presentation House back in 2013. The upcoming remount is being produced by GTI Theatrical Productions Society with the support of Famous Artists Limited.
As the title suggests, Mrs. Claus's Kitchen focuses on the often-overlooked matriarch of the North Pole.
"It's Mrs. Claus's chance to finally get out from Santa's generous shadow and have her own show," Allman says.
As the story goes, Mrs. Claus (played by Lucia Frangione) is feeling underappreciated at home, so when Jonathan Brooks (Matt Ramer), the New York CEO of Megabake Inc., seeks to capitalize on her baked goods, she's initially tempted by his offer. But when Mrs. Claus witnesses Mr. Brooks' troubled relationships with his young son (Nathan Piasecki) and elderly mother (Susan Anderson), it falls on her and her magical baking to draw the family back together.
This second production of Mrs. Claus's Kitchen has been reworked and features a few new tunes, a lot more elves, and a 10-piece orchestra led by music director Matt Grinke.
In creating the original script, Allman says he and his fellow writers were inspired by their own childhood Christmas memories, which is part of the reason the show takes place in the 1960s - that's when all three of them were born.
"We felt that was really when modern Christmas came of age," Allman says, pointing to all the seasonal TV specials and Christmas songs that came out in the '60s and remain just as popular today.
A tremendous amount of research went into Mrs. Claus's Kitchen, Allman adds. Among their findings, the writers dug up some pre-20th-century literature from the eastern U.S. that gives Mrs. Claus the same clout as her much-loved husband.
"She was very much a partner, she was an equal, and that has faded away through the 20th century," Allman says. "We felt Mrs. Claus deserved her own show, and we felt very strongly about that because she's a compelling character."
With so many Christmas classics in heavy rotation at this time of year, the writers felt compelled to pen a new tale for modern audiences. "We wanted to write a gift to the families of today for Christmas." Their musical emphasises the importance of family, and going to the theatre just happens to be an activity families can do together. "Live theatre now is competing with Netflix and cat videos on YouTube," so any new production "has to be excellent," Allman notes. "And Mrs. Claus's Kitchen is excellent. You can't download this experience."
The story is one that all generations can relate to, he continues, because it touches on so many different relationships.
"We wanted something that families could come to and go, 'I recognize myself in that, and I recognize my grandmother or my mother or my father in that.'" It's the fond memories of being with his own family at Christmas that stick with Allman today: visiting live reindeer at Oakridge mall, going for car rides to look at the neighbourhood lights, and settling in to watch A Charlie Brown Christmas with his parents year after year. "Those are the things that endure," he says. "Everything I remember, all the best moments, were the times I spent with my family doing anything."
