Cascade Needs Money.....Certainly Not Due to “A Cascade Christmas”
This past weekend I had the good fortune and great pleasure to attend the wonderful Christmas show at the Cascade, "A Cascade Christmas". Having been in the music field as an avocation for 50 years, I can report that this was one of the best "off Broadway" musicals I have ever seen. What James Santos and the Redding Dance Project does each Christmas is truly magnificent. This show could easily be a Branson headliner or a lead in for any of the Las Vegas shows. This musical dance program with gorgeous and appropriate costuming features talent that is not only professional in their performance but is so impressive in terms of how it is presented with "Broadway" quality sets and settings.
The dancers and singers, all of them local talent folks, work for months to make this one of the best shows in the entire North State, and it shows. From the opening City Scene with the women's cast performing over head kicks and ballet type moves to the full cast Carol of the Bells in full and elaborate costumes, the show moved through beautiful renditions of the familiar Christmas songs (The Christmas Song)to excellent solo and small group renditions of Santa music. With the children, many from local dance schools and dance programs, bringing a new and refreshing excitement to the overall program, this was just a delightful evening of wonderful entertainment. The final numbers feature the Dance of the Wooden Soldiers, and this is perfection at its best. The timing and precision needed in this very difficult presentation caused the full house audience to rise in applause in appreciation of what they had just seen. The final Nativity scene was, as always, very well done and a very fitting evening to this Christmas tradition.
If you did not have a chance to join the 9000 folks that were able to see the 2008 presentation, put it on your schedule for next year. James and the Project will be back and I'm sure it will be as good as this year. This is one Redding activity that one cannot miss. It is truly a wonderful show in the beautiful Cascade Theater setting, where there is not a bad seat. See you at the show
1 comment:
There are some really great Branson shows during the holiday season!
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