Gifts I’m preparing for some Christmas sharing— but I pause because—
Hanging my stocking, I can hear a knocking— ‘zat you, Santa Claus?
Ho-ho-no! It’s one better! It’s Baltimore Center Stage with their festive holiday offering: Santa Claus is Comin’: A Motown Christmas Revue, created by Nygel D. Robinson & Ken-Matt Martin. Co-Directed by Ken-Matt Martin and Victor Musoni, this quick-paced musical revue promises that you will meet joy along the evening’s path, and it delivers on that promise tenfold. Joy just so happens to be represented in four performers— Melody A. Betts, Catrina Brenae, Nygel D. Robinson, and Quincy Vicks— who will take you on a spiritually uplifting musical journey all throughout the night. Robinson (in addition to being co-creator and co-choreographer) serves as the show’s musical director (with musical assistant/copyist Bobby Hall III) and has some on-stage augmentation from Bryant “Deuce” Thomas II on bass and Francis A. Carroll on drums. It’s a marvelous and musically magical evening where the sounds of Motown, gospel, soul, R&B, and Christmas unite under one roof.
One of the most impressive features of this musical revue isn’t the catalog of iconic holiday songs or how sensationally well they’re performed but rather the community inclusion that’s being worked into the performance. At every performance an area school choir (at this performance, Northwood Elementary School’s choir) is invited to attend the show and kick-off the second act as intermission comes to a close. There’s a pithy little bit where Nygel D. Robinson gets up, most concerned as he cant’ find his fellow cast-mates and so invites the choir down from wherever they were seated in the house to perform. And perform they do! It’s a joyous occasion to see youngsters engaging in the arts (at this performance they delivered a cute little number called “It’s Holiday Time” with 25 students— eight wearing reindeer headbands and the rest in sparkly elf hats) and an essential part of what Baltimore Center Stage stands for at its core when it comes to community development. This particular performance was then followed by inviting Board Member Chrissy Thornton (who was celebrating her birthday at BCT) up to sing a Christmas gospel song. (Unclear as to whether or not this was specific to that evening’s performance or if Thornton or other members of the board provide a different song at each performance) And Thornton has a lovely voice though she could have gone without the cell-phone in her hand (she glanced at it once, perhaps double-checking lyrics, but didn’t need it and should have left it elsewhere for that fully, immersive experience.)…