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(Posted 6:30 p.m., Nov. 27)
OYP's
Winter Tails, an entertaining walk down memory
lane
By Fred Sherwin
Orléans Online
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 Sebastien
Melbourne was 'brilliant' as the Grinch in
the OYP production of 'Winter Tails'. Fred
Sherwin/Photo
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Over
the past number of years the Orléans Young Players
Theatre School, has put on a number of winter productions
which, besides being extremely entertaining, offered the
audience an opportunity to get into the Christmas spirit.
The
theatre school's latest installment in its winter series,
Winter Tails, was performed by the theatre school's
"All Ages Family Class" this past weekend in
the cozy confines of the Richcraft Theatre.
The
play was actually a collection of holiday classics including
Olive, the other Reindeer, Merry Christmas Charlie
Brown, and How The Grinch Stole Christmas,
delivered in a somewhat condensed format.
Winter
Tails opens the Beaver family beseeching their parents
to read some of their favourite Christmas stories.
First
on the list is The 10th Reindeer, also known as
Olive, the Other Reindeer. "Olive" is
Rudolph's friend who has to give up her vacuuming to replace
a sick Rudolph at the head of Santa's sleigh.
The
funny take on the line "All of the other reindeer..."
in the song "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer",
was followed by Christmas Kites, which is based
on the Truman Capote short story, A Christmas Memory,
about a young boy named Buddy and his much older cousin
Queenie.
The
two cousins, who bake Christmas cakes together and venture
off into the bush to chop down a Christmas tree, also
make each other a kite and fly them together on Christmas
day as they had done during Christmases past.
Unbeknownst
to the cousins, however, this is the last Christmas they
will spend together as Buddy must soon go off to school
and Queenie develops dementia and eventually forgets her
young cousin's name.
Queenie
was played admirably by Orléans Older Players veteran
Biz MacDonald, while Bruce Deachman narrated the piece
as an older Buddy, looking back on a fond memory. The
younger Buddy was played by David Corrigan who, based
on his performance, has a bright future on the stage.
The
third act was a rendition of the poem, Twas the Night
Before Christmas performed by members of the cast
using shadows cast from paper cutouts.
The
fourth act was a Coles Notes version of my personal favourite,
Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown. It had all the
elements of the Charles Shultz classic, including Snoopy's
award-winning dog house, colourful aluminum Christmas
trees, and a skimpy real tree brought to life by the Peanuts
gang after Charlie Brown had "killed" it.
After
a brief intermission, the OYP cast saved their best for
last with How the Grinch Stole Christmas, starring
Sebastien Melbourne as the Grinch and Sarah Allen as his
trusted canine Max. I say "starring" because
Melbourne stole the show as the dastardly Grinch.
The
Orléans Young Players Theatre School offers classes
for all ages throughout the year. To find out more visit
www.oypts.com.
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The
Orleans Young Players production of 'Winter
Tails' featured a cast of more gthan 50 students.
Fred Shewin/Photo
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