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[sanddunerider]

Palallin...
as far as the tree and parade goes....  LOL... 

DONT hold back!!

Tell us what you really think!!!!

[History Buff]

I think that's an honest review.  I'm OK with the tree, though if it works correctly and includes the entire square as it was designed to.  I would like it to include the entire square and perhaps even encourage interaction in some way.  My 11-year-old daughter still dances like no one is watching.  She cares more about seeing the tree than anything else in the park.  Anything to make it more gooder will certainly be welcome.

You are the first to mention the change in the spirits for the Dickens show.  I have recently discovered that reversal.

The first ghost would be difficult to enact on the stage:

It was a strange figure -- like a child: yet not so like a child as like an old man, viewed through some supernatural medium, which gave him the appearance of having receded from the view, and being diminished to a child's proportions. Its hair, which hung about its neck and down its back, was white as if with age; and yet the face had not a wrinkle in it, and the tenderest bloom was on the skin. The arms were very long and muscular; the hands the same, as if its hold were of uncommon strength. Its legs and feet, most delicately formed, were, like those upper members, bare. It wore a tunic of the purest white and round its waist was bound a lustrous belt, the sheen of which was beautiful. It held a branch of fresh green holly in its hand; and, in singular contradiction of that wintry emblem, had its dress trimmed with summer flowers. But the strangest thing about it was, that from the crown of its head there sprung a bright clear jet of light, by which all this was visible; and which was doubtless the occasion of its using, in its duller moments, a great extinguisher for a cap, which it now held under its arm.

Even this, though, when Scrooge looked at it with increasing steadiness, was not its strangest quality. For as its belt sparkled and glittered now in one part and now in another, and what was light one instant, at another time was dark, so the figure itself fluctuated in its distinctness: being now a thing with one arm, now with one leg, now with twenty legs, now a pair of legs without a head, now a head without a body: of which dissolving parts, no outline would be visible in the dense gloom wherein they melted away. And in the very wonder of this, it would be itself again; distinct and clear as ever.

The second ghost:

It was clothed in one simple green robe, or mantle, bordered with white fur. This garment hung so loosely on the figure, that its capacious breast was bare, as if disdaining to be warded or concealed by any artifice. Its feet, observable beneath the ample folds of the garment, were also bare; and on its head it wore no other covering than a holly wreath, set here and there with shining icicles. Its dark brown curls were long and free: free as its genial face, its sparkling eye, its open hand, its cheery voice, its unconstrained demeanour, and its joyful air. Girded round its middle was an antique scabbard; but no sword was in it, and the ancient sheath was eaten up with rust.

I don't see how the symbolism matters to everyman.  Unless one does a deep study, the imagery is just descriptive and doesn't have to be symbolic, but I do like a show that respects the original text and the author, so for that a major rewrite would be required.  The show is a long one and really demands the humor of the second ghost at that point.

I would rather adopt a rewrite in the Christmas Yet to Be scene.  While the music is beautiful and the singing is superb,  it sounds, looks, and feels too Catholic to my liking.  I think they would do well to make it appeal more to general Christianity.

As for Wonderful Life, nothing can replace the movie.  This show does not have the same feel as the Christmas Carol (since WL is set in a period after the parks theme.  Again, it is a long show for a theme park, but at the same time, that's nice since it keeps us out of the weather.

We only saw the last of the parade, but I can't imagine it cost what they claim.  If so, I may be in the wrong business.  The City is not made for a parade, and it does shut much of the operations down when it comes through.  That's true of any parade, of course, but it really can trap a person in a very small space if one does not plan ahead.

Looking at the LED lights in our neighborhood, I concur about them leaving me cold.  The colors seem metallic and uninviting to me.

[palallin]

Well, your daughter, bless her!, is the intended audience, so more power to her and to them!  At least, it's not a "Holiday Tree" or a "Winter Tree" or some such contrived name.  I can  forgive it a lot of flaws for that reason--but I don't have to watch 

You know, I hadn't given much thought to that Yet to Come scene, but you make a fair point.  The McGoo version returns tot he song I suggested earlier for that part, and that might recommend it even more.

Again:  I know that *I* am not a fair judge-in fact, I may be completely by myself.  I can live with that.  But continued KUDOS to the city for making OTC about the heart of Christmas rather than just Rudolf, Frosty, and $$$$.

[Joy]

I am a huge Mannheim Steamroller and TSO fan, but I LOVE David Foster's version of Carol of the Bells more than any other I have ever heard. The SDC Tree was the 1st time I ever heard that version, and for a while I thought they composed it themselves because I had such a hard time finding it anywhere else. What I liked about the old/original tree were the candles and how they were lit to the beat of Carol of the Bells.
If/when SDC does do a new tree, I'd like to see them incorporate the candles from the original tree, or something similar. I wouldn't mind new songs, but Carol of the Bells has to stay.

Oh, I totally agree. DEFINITELY need to keep Foster's Carol of the Bells. It's my favorite non-techno version of the song!

If I were to mess with it now I'd really just want to get rid of the moving box segments since they never seem to look right and I'd make the tree another two stories taller or so.

Yup. The boxy segments are my main quibble with the tree. I think the tree would look so much better with a bit of an upgrade to give them more control over the movement of the lights; as I pointed out in my earlier posts, there's really no reason why they can't have non-boxy synchronization on the tree.

And yeah, make the tree bigger and maybe bring back a version of the really cool angels on the balcony that the old tree used to have.

Speaking of.... I don't know if I just have bad memory and am mashing things together or what, but I swear I remember the Vienna Boy's Choir singing IN the tree, on the balconies, in place of the lighted angels. Is my brain just mushing together the choir performing near the tree and the tree itself, or what?

[Gilligan]

Is the current tree the same size as the previous one?

[Swoosh]

The last time the Boys Choir was at SDC they performed in Heritage Hall.

[Junior, too!]

I remember seeing the boys choir perform on the gazebo stage on Main Street. I seem to remember a living Christmas tree maybe in the Meeting Hall...I know the Haygoods or Duttons performed a Christmas show there at one time, perhaps the late 90s.

[palallin]

Something else occurs to me about A Christmas Carol:  They are missing a trick using the music they use during the dance at Fezziwig's:  that dance featured a fiddler, one who "knew his business."  Surely the show could find a fiddler or two in the Ozarks who fits that description . . . .

NOT a criticism, just a suggestion!

[Preachin_Bill]

I would rather adopt a rewrite in the Christmas Yet to Be scene.  While the music is beautiful and the singing is superb,  it sounds, looks, and feels too Catholic to my liking.  I think they would do well to make it appeal more to general Christianity.

Two things.  What about the yet to be scene is "too Catholic", and 2) What is wrong with something being Catholic?

[History Buff]

By that I simply meant that Ave Maria is profoundly Catholic in it sentiment and does not portray "protestants".  The latter generally does not have the same opinion of Mary as intercessor.  While I think the tunes of Ave Maria and Little Altar Boy are beautiful, and while I believe David and Rachel do an astounding job of singing them, they could be replaced with other songs that would appeal more fully to Christianity in general and not simply to Catholic beliefs.  That being said, I also have no problem with a scene in a play being specific.  Undoubtedly, setting (time and place) of Dickens' story lends itself to the songs that are performed at SDC.

Without getting into a religious discussion or debate, this explanation should be sufficient for the thread.

[oldsdcer]

They use to have a champaion fiddler with the cajun connection who sells real estate around branson now