Adam Prudhomme
Beaver Staff
Far from the prestige and big budget of Saturday Night Live’s Rockefeller Centre studios in New York is the stage at Newburgh Public School, where a very different variety show is gearing up for its 38th showing on Dec. 9.
Known simply as the Community Christmas Concert, the show has become a holiday tradition for those in Lennox and Addington and beyond, delivering plenty of laughs while supporting a worthy cause. They’ll once again host an afternoon showing at 3 p.m. and an evening one at 7 p.m., with doors opening an hour before each show.
“I keep thinking every year I’ll contact everybody and they’ll say ‘oh I think I’ve had enough,” said Mae Whalen, an original cast member who has been involved in every single production. “But every year they say yes and so here we are.”
They’ve managed to keep the show fresh through its nearly four decade run by ripping their ideas for skits right out of the headlines.
“We always have some relevant stuff, the newest songs or something like that to give a little snapshot of the world each year,” said Whalen.
This time last year the topic on a lot of people’s minds was the election south of the border and they scored big laughs when a character dressed in a suit with big hair promised to build a wall around the North Pole.
“We’ve decided that everybody’s heard more than enough of American politics,” Whalen says for this year’s show. “There won’t be mention of any politics happening in the south. We have done a skit that plays on Canada 150. That’s our nod to what’s going on in the world this year.”
As the original cast has grown over the last 38 years, so too have their families which has added a unique aspect to the show.
“This year we will have grandmothers, mothers and granddaughters all performing on the stage which is really cool,” said Whalen. “When we started this I don’t even know if anyone was married let alone had kids.”
As they’ve continued to deliver side splitting sketches and mesmerizing vocals year after year, the cast is often asked why they don’t explore taking their act to the big stage.
“That would take the fun out of it,” said Whalen. “We’ve certainly had people say to us ‘Why don’t you take it to a bigger venue? Why don’t you spread it over two days?’ We’ve had lots of people wish we would make this more of a production. That’s not what we are. When we started it was the whole notion to provide the community with entertainment that wasn’t geared towards a denomination or anything else. Just a community gathering together. It still feels like that.”
Whalen says much of the charm stems from the fact that the cast has next to no acting experience, only getting on stage once a year. The budget is strictly out of pocket from the actors and they build a lot of the props themselves. They do that to ensure that 100 per cent of the donations go right back towards providing toys for less fortunate kids in the community. They’ll once again be working with KFLA Family and Children Services as well as local school boards to provide toys for those who need a little extra help this holiday season.
Admission is simply by donation and anyone planning to attend is encouraged to arrive early as the school’s gym can only hold so many people.