'Christmas at the Palace' marks 40th anniversary this weekend
The year was 1982 and former Palace Theatre Director Ula Watts told her choreographer Clare Cooke that she wanted to stage a Christmas show at the venerable old downtown arts and entertainment venue.
Despite having some doubts about being able to pull off such a massive production, 40 years later Cooke and choreographer Kristi Wink are in the final stages of preparation for yet another edition of "Christmas at the Palace," the theatre's most popular annual production.
"It's very exciting," Cooke said. "When we started it, I didn't think about the future. You think about one show at a time. I never dreamed that 40 years later we'd still being doing the Christmas show. And I never dreamed that one day Ula would hand the reins over to me and that I'd be directing it. It truly is, I believe, Kristi's and my favorite show to do, only because it's ours. We make it ours. We know the community. We know what the community likes."
The 40th anniversary edition of "Christmas at the Palace" is scheduled for Friday through Sunday, Dec. 2-4. Showtime is 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday with a 2 p.m. matinee planned for Sunday.
Cooke said "Christmas at the Palace" is not only the most popular show the Palace Theatre stages annually, but it's also the largest and most beloved, attracting a wide range of community residents who want to be part of the cast.
"It's just very spirited," she said, noting that more than 4,000 singers, dancers, and actors have participated in the show during the past four decades. "I don't how many people have said to me, 'Once I see 'Christmas at the Palace,' I'm finally in the mood. It's just such a happy show."
The show is chock full of signature routines that Marion audiences have come to love over the years, Cooke said, including the men's tap line. As choreographer of that very first production, Cooke stamped her image on the show from the start by creating the men's tap line.
"I told Ula I wanted to put a group of men on stage and teach them how to dance," Cooke recalls. "I've always felt everybody could dance. And that first line had attorneys, doctors, coaches, radio people, TV people. (Marion County radio icon) Charlie Evers was in the very first line. I still remember the dance. Those rehearsals were so funny because they didn't have a clue what they were getting into. But once they did it and saw how popular they were, they loved it. So that has continued every year since 1982."
Other crowd favorites that have been added to the show over the years include the ladies' tap line, Santa (Played by Bruce Cudd) and Mrs. Claus (played by Sharon Gale), the UPS Man (played by Dustin Rawlins), along with Sassy the Elf (played by Julia Vanderhoff) and her nemesis Sparkle the Elf (played by Sara Grote). Local youth dance groups, high school students, and others from the community have been cast members as well.
"The actors all work so well together and it's just fun for them and the audience," Cooke said. "We've got so much talent in Marion and this is a wonderful showcase for them."
Cooke said the 40th anniversary show will feature some "new numbers" and "new faces," but declined to go into too much detail, choosing to let the audience enjoy the surprises in person this weekend. She did say that she is "extremely proud of the Nativity" depicting the birth of Jesus Christ.
"I love choosing the music for it. I love that old time church music," she said. "It's really big and it's really bold this year. And the voices are phenomenal. We have fun and we joke throughout the show, but when we get to the Nativity, I think everybody stops and thinks, 'This is what Christmas is about.' I just think in today's world we don't do that often enough. It's always been my favorite part."
Tickets for "Christmas at the Palace" cost $25 each for adults and $15 each for children. For ticket information, go to the Palace Theatre website marionpalace.org or call the box office at 740-383-2101. The box office is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday and Friday.
Email: ecarter@gannett.com | Twitter: @AndrewACCarter
This article originally appeared on Marion Star: 'Christmas at the Palace' marks 40th anniversary this weekend
