I did a lot of things. I went to church today mainly to see what a Unitarian Christmas pageant would be like. When I got there I immediatly noticed that the church wasn’t as full as usual. This I feel was either because there was a threat of snow and rain all morning long and or maybe they weren't all that interested in seeing a Christmas pageant. One thing I have to say is that there was an awful lot of camcorders and picture phones lining the aisles that morning.

Church Christmas Pageant Review

Performed at First Unitarian Church of Baltimore on December 19, 2004

I had a couple of tiny problems with the production. First off it was billed in the handouts not as a Christmas pageant, but a Nativity pageant. Secondly it had a stupid name, Would You Like to Hold the Baby? Thirdly it was written by a Canadian named Joyce Poley.

The Nativity Pageant was basically narrarated while children and adult participants mimed the action. All the participants did a great job. The narrator did an exceptional job guiding the action.

Standout performance goes to the pre-teen/teen who played Mary. I could really feel what she was going through. However, the pre-teen/teen that played Joseph had a look on his face that said he’d rather be anywhere but there.

Favorite costume by far in the Nativity pageant would be the guy that I dub the manger wrangler. He didn’t have a part per se. He just kind of looked after the preschoolers who played manger animals. He wore a plaid shirt, jeans, and reading glasses along with an Arab head dress. The fact that he didn’t fit in costume wise was why I adored watching him.

The choir was pretty good. However there was one female singer who had a squeaky high pitched elderly voice. When she sang it kind of threw me off.

As far as the storyline of Would You Like To Hold the Baby? goes, I found it a bit weak. In short Mary is about to give birth to baby Jesus. There’s this stable girl that wants to stick around. The stable manager kicks her out. She comes back towards the end of the play and Mary asks her, “Would you like to hold the baby?”

The standout song in the production was “Room In The Stable”. It had a kind of a reggae feel to it. The song for which the play was named after didn’t have any real kick to it. It was the most boring song I’ve ever heard. The production ended oddly enough, with a version of the Wassail Song called Here We Come A-Caroling.

Overall, the production was ok for what it was. I don’t envision any Broadway productions or Tony nods. It was pretty good for a one shot deal.