Whatever’s needed to uncork your seasonal spirit, chances are you can find it in Red Deer over the next few weeks.
On the theatre front, Ignition Theatre is presenting the perennial favourite It’s a Wonderful Life, in the Nickle Studios, upstairs at the Memorial Centre from Dec. 6 to 8 and 11 to 15.
The life-affirming classic is about community-minded George Bailey, who falls into despair when business matters go awry. Just as he thinks he’d have been better off not being born, he’s visited by an unlikely angel named Clarence who shows George how his many contributions have affected his friends and acquaintances.
The production — which will unfold as a 1940s radio play, with actors in period clothes delivering their lines in front of microphones — is directed by Dustin Lawrence. For more information, visit www.ignitiontheatre.ca.
Bull Skit Comedy is staging A(n Improvised) Christmas Carol at the Scott Block Theatre. The twist is that audience members will get to decide all aspects of the Charles Dickens story — from what Scrooge does for a living, to what afflicts poor Tiny Tim.
Audience members will also have the choice of attending catered dinner theatres, or play-only matinees. The shows run from Dec. 13 to 16 at the Scott Block Theatre. For more information, visit bullskitcomedy.com.
If you can’t decide between Christmas classics, why not get a taste of them all through Central Alberta Theatre’s production of Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some), by Michael Carleton, James FitzGerald and John K. Alvarez?
Directed by Paul Sutherland, the show runs as a dinner theatre at the Black Knight Inn until Dec. 15.
Three actors opt to stage every Christmas story — plus holiday traditions from ancient times to pop culture, and every carol ever sung. This one’s described as “a madcap romp through the holiday season!”
Tickets are available from the Black Knight Ticket Centre.
For those who enjoy festive music during the holidays, the Red Deer Symphony Orchestra presents A Choral Christmas concert on Dec. 8.
The orchestrra and conductor Claude Lapalme will team up with two Central Alberta choirs under the direction of Lisa Ward — ihana and Soliloquy — to perform music from the film Snowman, as well as popular Christmas standards.
Tickets to this concert at the Red Deer College Arts Centre are also available from the Black Knight Ticket Centre.
The ever-popular Nutcracker ballet, featuring a magical score by Tchaikovsky and dozens of young Red Deer-area dance students, will run from Dec. 14 to 16 at the Red Deer College Arts Centre.
The epic battle of mice and toy soldiers is still mesmerizing audiences. Tickets are available from rdc.ab.ca/tickets.
Fast-forward 100 years or so, and some toe-tapping 20th-century tunes will be delivered in Oh What a Night! Christmas this Thursday at the Memorial Centre. Audiences will hear harmonies sung in the style of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, with a tribute to “Mr. Christmas,” Andy Williams.
Tickets are from the Black Knight Ticket Centre.
lmichelin@reddeeradvocate.com
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