Taylor Bernard will have a full-circle moment when Cadence Theatre’s production of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever: The Musical opens this Friday at the Libby S. Gottwald Playhouse at Dominion Energy Center.
The Thomas Dale High School theater teacher will be directing the same show that paved the way for her own theatrical start when she was young.
“This was one of my favorite books as a kid,” says Bernard who appeared in her church’s Christmas production of the show. “I love the story. I think it’s a story of the heart of the holiday season. It’s about love, acceptance and letting everyone in.”
The musical, based on the bestselling book and play by Barbara Robinson, tells the tale of the Herdman kids, known in their small town as the worst behaved kids, ever. They are loud, disruptive bullies who somehow land the leading roles in the church’s Christmas pageant.
Chaos breaks out when the children decide to revise the classic Christmas story, a move that offends the people of the town. It’s left to the pageant director Grace Bradley and the Reverend to find a way for the community to appreciate the true meaning of Christmas despite the Herdman kids’ attempt to wreck it.
Everyone in the 30-plus member cast has some level of performing experience. Many of the kids have participated in theatre camps with Cadence in the past while some have been involved in their school programs or community productions.
The show features two different casts, Frosty and Rudolph, so that kids will be able to alternate performances. “The adult professional actors are in every show,” Bernard says.
As a teacher, Bernard has been working with kids for 19 years, some years with a cast as large as 100. “I am very used to herding cats, which is what it’s like sometimes. Kids are so much fun, flexible and creative,” she says.
Many of the rehearsals for the show have been spent staging the chaos that the six rough-around-the-edges Herdman kids create.
“It’s a story about a cookie-cutter town pageant that is the same every year. The Herdman kids decide they want to take all the lead roles,” Bernard says. “It contains physical comedy like wrestling or tying each other up in Christmas lights. All of that has to be choreographed. It has to happen at the right moment.”
Some of the kids in the production who are playings siblings are actually real siblings.
“We also have several parents and kids working together on the show, and it’s cool to see these families getting the chance to work together,” she says, adding her own nine-year-old daughter is one of the angels in the Rudolph cast. “That’s really fun.”
Whether you’ve been in a Christmas pageant in the past or whether you’ve never seen one, “people can connect with the wild and wooly children looking for a place to belong, to be loved and accepted,” says Bernard.
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever: The Musical runs from December 13 to December 22. For more information and tickets, visit https://www.dominionenergycenter.com/events/detail/best-christmas-pageant-ever-cadence-theatre.
