New York City Opera celebrates the holidays with All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914 at Sacred Heart University Community Theatre, 1420 Post Road, Fairfield, CT, presented in association with Bodhi Tree Concerts and with the support of Kings Alley. Performances: Wed 12/7 and Thu 12/8 at 7:30pm, Fri 12/9 at 8pm and Sat at 11am (family performance). Tickets are $45 for adults, $25 for children and are available at shucommunitytheatre.showare.com/NewYorkCityOpera.
All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914 tells the true story of the first Christmas Eve of World War I, when soldiers across the Western Front laid down their weapons to celebrate Christmas together. For 48 hours to more than a week on some battlefronts, soldiers on all sides declared a truce and ate and drank together, played soccer, and sang carols. This beautiful retelling of the events, based on the firsthand accounts of soldiers who lived it, is woven together with traditional carols and patriotic songs, celebrating the unique way that the holiday season can bring us all together.
All is Calm is a holiday show like no other, guaranteed to put the whole family in the holiday spirit, with such favorites as “Silent Night,” “Auld Lang Syne,” “The First Noel,” “O Tannenbaum,” and “Angels We Have Heard on High,” sung a cappella in various languages, including English, German, and French. These traditional songs fostered the spirit of Christmas warmth in the midst of a war, and as a play with music, All Is Calm captures a snapshot of this moment when the war stopped, and these people put aside their differences to celebrate Christmas.
The all-male, fourteen-person cast includes Glenn Seven Allen, Michael Boley, Shelby Condray, Nicolas Davis, Walter DuMelle, John Robert Green, Spencer Hamlin, Andrew Konopak, Dimitrie Lazich,Brian James Myer,Jordan Weatherston Pitts, Timmy Simpson, Michael Sokol, and WooYoung Yoon.
All is Calm is written by Peter Rothstein, with musical arrangements by Erick Lichte and Timothy C. Takach, directed by Richard Stafford and conducted by Juan Carlos Acosta, with dialect coaching by Vanessa Dinning, scenery designed by John Farrell, costumes designed by Stephanie Bauerle, and lighting designed by Susan Roth.
“New York City Opera is thrilled to be presenting All Is Calm this December,” said Michael Capasso, General Director, New York City Opera. “It’s a beautiful and moving work that my friend and longtime collaborator Diana DuMelle – the Director of Bodhi Tree Concerts – introduced me to. We’re excited to be partnering on this new production featuring several members of the original Bodhi Tree production and to begin our collaboration with SHU!”