Wind in the Willows

Laureen F. Guenther

Times Contributor

 

After having recently been matched wA Wind in the Willows Christmas in Rosebud opened in Rosebud’s Opera House, November 6, telling three Christmas fables in song.
It starts with Toad of Toad Hall (David Snider) driving recklessly, being sentenced to jail and escaping in time for Christmas. When his animal friends welcome him home and prepare to leave, he realizes he doesn’t want them to go — so they tell Christmas stories.
First, they tell about a peaceful, poetic dragon and a village that’s afraid of him. The dragon (Snider), St. George (Joel Stephanson) and a boy (Natalie Gauthier) dance and sing doo-wop in a mock battle, convincing the villagers the dragon is conquered. But then the dragon surprises the villagers by showing up at the village Christmas feast.
The animals’ next story is about a choir-directing monk (Stephanson) who hears a new Christmas carol from the angels, but can’t remember the final notes. His donkey (Alix Cowman) sings only two notes – E and Aw – but those are the notes he needs. The show ends with the animals gathered to sing for the baby Jesus.
The 12-year-old who attended with us said Toad was “her favorite part”, and I can see why. In the scene where Toad is in jail, Snider does such an accurate job of portraying Toad, I thought, “I’ve never noticed it before, but that’s exactly what a toad looks like!”
The first song of the show didn’t grab my interest, but the music quickly became more interesting and diverse, and I was captivated the rest of the way through. I was fascinated by how cleverly composer John Rutter wrote dialogue in melody. In the second story, for instance, when the characters tell about the Christmas feast with a chant of “Gobble, gobble, chomp, chomp,” it’s both hilarious and lovely.
Each cast member is well-chosen, with strong solo voices that also harmonize well, and the flute, bass and violin are perfect accents. The music is so involving, in fact, that a man seated in our row tapped his foot through much of the performance. I found it a bit distracting, but I certainly understood his enthusiasm.
I loved the warm colors and nostalgic appearance of the costumes, so, after the show, I asked costume designer Julia Campisi how she chose them. She said she used warm reds, yellows and golds to contrast with the cool blue set, and created flow by using the same basic palette in each fable. She used color, texture and silhouette to differentiate the animals.
This play has sensitive reminders about true Christmas values, and some depth and hilarity that only adults will appreciate. But it also has a lot of meaning and enjoyment for children. They’ll love Toad and his ridiculous antics, and many of them will understand how it feels to be the dragon left out of the Christmas party or to be the donkey banned from the choir. They’ll enjoy the animals, the silliness and the wide variety of music.
So this is a show for people of all ages, and for me it was a lovely way to enter the Christmas season. A Wind in the Willows Christmas in Rosebud runs til December 19. Get tickets at www.rosebudtheatre.com or 1-800-267-7350.