What! They tied him up and put him in a feed box? Where was the child welfare?"
So says Imogene Herdman, played by Hannah Wood of Brigham City, in "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" at Heritage Community Theatre.
Based on Barbara Robinson's 1972 book of the same name, the play ran Dec. 3-18 in Perry and was directed by Tania Carter. A cast of 44, including adults, teenagers, and children, began rehearsing in September. With such commitment comes rewards.
Narrator Beth Bradley (Katelyn Coleman of Brigham City) presented the play from a comical, yet frustrated standpoint. The sister of Charlie Bradley (Scott Dinsdale of Perry), Beth figures that her younger brother has ruined church, the only place the horrible Herdman children never go, by telling Leroy Herdman (Nathan Briggs of North Ogden) about all the snacks they get in Sunday school. Unfortunately, the six Herdman kids not only start going to church for the delicious food but show up just in time to hear about the church's annual Christmas pageant.
Surprisingly, the Herdmans take the lead roles in the pageant without even knowing the Christmas story. Everyone now says this year's pageant will be the worst, even Reverend Hopkins (David A. Anderson of Honeyville), who says, "I don't think anyone will come to see it."
On the night of the Christmas pageant many critical, gossiping, adult actors gather to watch what they feel will be the worst Christmas pageant ever -- and soon realize the Herdmans have soft hearts and their predictions were wrong. The Herdmans had finally heard the true meaning of Christmas. Imogene, playing Mary, the mother of Jesus, started crying, and Leroy Herdman, one of the three wise men, gave his own needy family's ham as a present to the baby.
Although I was laughing nearly throughout the entire performance, my favorite part was when the character Alice says as she writes in her diary, "Oh what a terrible thing to say" after Imogene says, "I would have named him (Baby Jesus) Bill." Narrator Coleman had a wonderful clear voice which made the production easier to understand. I was impressed with the actors portraying the Bradley family; I truly believed they were a family.
The performance was meaningful and incorporated a lot of comedy for an overall heartwarming Christmas feel. This was my initial look at a production at Heritage Theatre, and I compliment all the obvious hard work that builds over the years and agree this was "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever."
Morgan Briesmaster is a senior at Northridge High School. E-mail her at 11mbriesmaster@davis.k12.ut.us.
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