‘The Little Drummer Boy’: LC Civic Ballet performances Dec. 11-13
Published 8:43 am Monday, December 1, 2014
The Lake Charles Civic Ballet will usher in the holiday season with its production of “The Little Drummer Boy.”
Performances will be Dec. 11-13 in the Lake Charles Civic Center’s Rosa Hart Theater.
“The show is filled with beautiful dancing and excitement,” said Lady Holly Hathaway Kaough, artistic director. “It gets people in the Christmas spirit.”
The play, which includes more than 200 local performers, is set in the town of Bethlehem.
The Little Drummer Boy is played by Caroline Kaough and Madelyn Warner. The young dancers will portray a sad little boy with no gift to offer the baby Jesus.
“The Little Drummer Boy only sees his deficiency — a poor little boy with nothing to give. He doesn’t see his own value and his own worth,” she said. “At the very end the Angel of Comfort appears to him and tells him that everyone has something that can be offered to the Savior. Then, it occurs to him that he has a musical gift.”
The audience will have the opportunity to learn from The Little Drummer Boy’s journey, she said.
“It’s something that everyone needs to recognize. We are in search of what gifts we have to share — what it is we are going to ultimately end up doing as a career,” she said. “We all seek this out in hopes that what we choose as our career will give us joy and allow us to give joy to others. No matter how big or small our gifts they are important and they matter and they count. Each person has value.”
“The Gifts of the Magi” is danced by Grace Helms, Gabrielle Saucier and Jaina Ange — three women who are LCCB principal dancers.
Returning to LCCB’s stage is the Rev. John “Jack” Myers, rector of Good Shepherd Episcopal Church and Bishop Noland Episcopal Day School. He reprises his role, which he last performed in 2008, as the grumpy innkeeper who turns Mary and Joseph away. He interacts with the village children, who torment and punish him for not being fun.
The performance includes a preshow performance of a battalion of tap-dancing toy soldiers. LCCB’s “Variations of Joy,” a holiday medley, will also be performed. LCCB principal dancers Hannah Arabie, Graceanne LaCombe and Claudia Mayo are featured in the piece. The trio dance together in a version of “Silent Night,” celebrating Jesus’ birth.
School group matinee performances are at 9:30 and 11 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 11, and Friday, Dec. 12. Tickets for school matinees are $5.
Reservations may be made on LCCB’s website at www.lakecharlescivicballet.com or by contacting group reservations chair, Kelly Gifford, at 337-802-5779.
Public performances will be Saturday, Dec. 13, with an 11 a.m. matinee and a 6 p.m. gala. Tickets are $10 for students and $15 for adults. Tickets may be purchased at the door or on LCCB’s website, http://lakecharlescivicballet.com.
