Marty Gordon, Heather Sherrill, and Crystal Sinclair in WINTERLAND: THE QUEST FOR CHRISTMAS
It’s been awhile since I last blogged–it’s been too busy here. Between mounting a musical and the duties at the church, the time to quietly reflect in writing in this space just hasn’t been there. But I have to take a minute and tell you about this musical opening this week at the Northwest Church.
WINTERLAND: THE QUEST FOR CHRISTMAS opens this Thursday at 7:30, and runs through the weekend. Friday night and Saturday night’s shows are also at 7:30, with 2:00 matinees on Saturday and Sunday. Sporting a cast of around 40, this original story with 20 original folk tunes should turn out to be quite an evening. This cast has worked harder than any cast of a NW Church Christmas production, at least any of the casts I’ve been around, and the production really shows off their hard work. The set is huge, we now have power to actually run the lights we need, the band has been outstanding, and today we add sound. The next couple of nights will be about bringing the technical elements into line, and then Wednesday, it will be off to the races.
The story itself concerns a young woman that wakes up one Depression Era Christmas morning to discover Christmas has disappeared from the planet. No one seems to know the first thing about any event called Christmas, and the heroine sets off on a journey to see what she can discover about why Christmas has gone missing. But beyond that, the story is about the church trying to put on that play. There are cast members who are unhappy with their roles, singers that can’t quite sing, and various technical mishaps that occur throughout the play. In the end, the story of Christmas gets told in a simple, but hopefully fresh, retelling, and lessons are learned all around.
The spirit of the NW cast has been superb through this process, and it has been a true joy to get to spend the last few months getting this thing together. I’ve told several of my friends that this kind of theatre does what we always talked about in grad school–it is a function of community that is integral and real in the life of this body of people, and it makes the experience of the play that will occur on those nights this week a true gift to the audience, in the truest meaning of Christmas gift-giving.
I hope you can come be on the receiving end.
The address is 15555 15th Ave NE. Shoreline, Washington. Come early…it’ll be packed.
It’s free…
JEFF BERRYMAN 
Sorry to miss out on the play again this year. Are you going to tape (or DVD) the performance this year, and have copies available for those of us now living out here in the wintry midwest who not only long for the Northwest (and Northwest), but also for the greasepaint? Terribly envious of those who get to play a part in another original offering, and wishing we could fly in for a performance. Break a leg!
I’m the supervisor (in her day job, which is actually an evening job) of Heather Sherrill, and attended today’s matinée at her invitation. I was astounded (to put it mildly) at the quality, the strength, of both the play and the performance. I am fairly sure it’s the best Christmas musical I recall seeing. I am hopeful that you will publish the songs if not the entire play, and that it will be widely staged. It’s probably too late to get them there, but there are several people I will make a concerted effort to recruit for your audience tomorrow.