Rent

From the ovation that went up from the Sacramento Community Center audience, as the actors took the stage for the opening performance of the Broadway tour of 'Rent,' and the tumultuous applause that greeted the first few notes of many songs, it was obvious that 'Rent-heads' had turned out in force for this production.

And were ecstatic to be there.

It's tragic that composer/lyricist Jonathan Larson never lived to see the phenomenon that 'Rent' has become. He died of aortic dissection caused by Marfan's syndrome on the morning of Jan. 25, 1996; the show opened for its off-Broadway run that night.

'Rent' played to sold-out houses, and its run was extended until April 1996, when it moved to the larger Nederlander Theater; it subsequently became the eighth-longest running show in Broadway history, and grossed more than $280 million.

It won every major best musical award, including the Tony, as well as the Pulitzer Prize for drama.

Tours of 'Rent' have criss-crossed the country almost continuously since late 1996. It has been translated into every major language and performed on six continents. The show had such a loyal following in New York that the term 'Renthead' came to be used to describe fans who would line up for hours in advance, just to get the $20 rush tickets; they subsequently boasted of having seen the show dozens of times.

One obsessed fan claims to have seen it more than 1,100 times during its 12-year run.

'Rent' is an updated version of Puccini's opera, 'La Boheme,' the music from which is played in brief interludes throughout the show. It tells the story of a group of impoverished young artists and musicians who struggle to survive and create in New York's Lower East Side, under the shadow of AIDS, at a time when drugs are plentiful.

The building in which they've been living has been sold along with the lot next door, which is inhabited by a group of homeless people. The new owner plans to clear the homeless off the land and evict the tenants from the building, so he can erect a high-tech cyber arts studio.

The people stage a protest; a riot erupts.

How the tenants break back into the building, and then spend the rest of their year, is the substance of the story.

This touring Broadway production features a stellar cast, starting with Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal, who created the roles of filmmaker Mark Cohen and songwriter Roger Davis, respectively, in the original 1996 production. Now, 13 years later, the actors have returned to the show, along with Gwen Stewart, the featured soloist in the haunting 'Seasons of Love.'

The actors may be 13 years older, but they still bring the necessary youthful, idealistic enthusiasm to their roles.

Justin Johnson, who performed in 'Rent's' final night on Broadway, is the heart and soul of this production. He plays Angel Schunard, a gay drag queen dying of AIDS. Johnson is tender during his love scenes with Tom Collins (Michael McElroy), and deliciously outrageous in his dance numbers.

As for McElroy, his tender ministrations to Angel, during his final days, will break your heart.

Lexi Lawson, one of the few cast members new to her role, plays Mimi, an exotic dancer and drug addict who contracts HIV.

Nicolette Hart, as Mark's former lover Maureen Johnson, does amazing things in tight, shiny, electric-blue pants.

Maureen is bisexual; her girlfriend, Joanne Jefferson (Trisha Jeffrey), is a powerhouse of a rabble-rousing attorney.

From the speed with which the cheering audience leaped to its feet, as the show concluded, it's safe to say that this production more than satisfied the Rentheads.

And it probably won over a lot more converts to the cult following, as well.

Tuesdays with Morrie

It is crucial for actors to be utterly believable when performing a show like “Tuesdays with Morrie,” Jeffrey Hatcher and Mitch Albom’s adaption of Albom’s best selling book, especially when performing in an intimate setting such as Sacramento Theater Company’s small Pollock Theater. Aaron Wilton (Mitch) and David Silberman (Morrie) succeed beautifully.

Aided by Matt K. Miller’s crisp direction, STC’s “Tuesdays with Morrie” is a show that will grab every heart and that should come with little packages of tissues on each seat. I didn’t see a dry eye in the house (including, in some spots, the actors themselves).

For those unfamiliar with the story, Morrie Schwartz was a sociology professor at Brandeis University, who came into national prominence when he was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, in 1994. The charismatic, if irascible, Schwartz was interviewed several times by ABC’s Ted Koppel (“Nightline”). The broadcasts brought his former student, Mitch Albom, now a sports writer for the Detroit Free Press, back into his old professor’s life.

It was guilt that drew Albom to make a quick courtesy call on his old “Coach,” but the camaraderie between the two was rekindled, and Albom returned the following Tuesday and every Tuesday thereafter. He taped the conversations between himself and the dying man, recording his thoughts on life–and on death. The recordings eventually became the best selling book and spawned several other best selling books by Albom, examining life and the afterlife. The original book also became a made-for-television movie, with Jack Lemmon playing Morrie and Hank Azaria as Mitch.

The play is set in Morrie’s Waltham, Massachusetts living room, designed by Jarrod Bodensteiner and Morgan McCarthy. The room is a testament to Morrie’s minimalist lifestyle, with the walls painted a 1950s green and the furnishings kept to a bare minimum–a recliner and a few books on a shelf. He refers to an unseen television, the original black and white, purchased many years before. He speaks of the irrelevance of “things” and the importance of people.

Stage Manager Suzanne Tyler (who also gives the pre-show talk) helps move bits of scenery around and also acts as the nurse, ministering to the dying man (putting on slippers, moving him into a hospital bed, etc.)

Erik Daniells is credited with the piano recordings used throughout several scenes.

I will admit to having some problems with this play that should do nothing to take away from the actual production or the fine job done by two veteran actors. I loved Albom’s book, but I found that the play seems to concentrate more on Mitch than on Morrie and it is only in the last few scenes where Mitch does not come across as self-centered and a bit obnoxious, a feeling I did not get from the book itself.

Aaron Wilton handles the slow transformation of Mitch as he helplessly watches his dying friend beautifully.

As for David Silberman, he is a delight to watch and so fully embodied Morrie Schwartz that I was moved to come home and check out excerpts of the Koppel interviews on YouTube to see the real man for myself..

Schwartz lays out his five rules for living which include (among many other things) "keep an open heart. Open it up further and further and further until you encompass as much as you can with your love." He also advises people to "be alert and aware to the things that interest you and then go for it. Be involved."

Hopefully that will be the message that people will take away from this production, once they have dried their eyes and blown their noses.

THIRD eYE Festival

If a central theme runs through this year's THIRDeYE Theater Festival, taking place through this weekend at UC Davis' Wyatt Pavilion, it might be 'I see dead people.'

Isaac - all three of him - sees his dead mother. Jaime sees his dead grandfather. Paul sees Hemingway and Hitler in a bathing suit.

This annual festival showcases the work of three undergraduate playwrights and three undergraduate directors, and allows the students to apply to the stage what they have learned in class. This year's festival is under the artistic curatorship of Peter Lichtenfels, and the plays themselves were developed in Philip Kan Gotanda's playwriting class in the fall quarter of 2008.

'The Blue Jay's Song,' written by Daniel Jordan and directed by William MacInnis, came out of the former's own romantic crisis; the play illuminates the rebirth that comes with the death of loved ones and the loss of relationships.

The character of Isaac is shown as a split personality, with Mark Curtis Ferrando as the central figure; Micah Shyuh and Juan Gallardo represent different portions of his emotions. Gallardo (Isaac 2) is the more angry, while Shyuh (Isaac 1) is the more peaceful and loving of the emotions.

Isaac lost his mother early, and his search to understand that loss has affected his life, especially his current relationship with Elizabeth (Monica Ammerman). The two fight and make up in confusing ways, the underlying cause not always apparent to the audience.

The circus atmosphere of Isaac's emotional life is represented by a ringmaster ('circus conductor') played by Jordan himself, accompanied by a juggler (Alexander Weston) and contortionist (Megan Vaughan). They're accompanied by dancers Sasha Hao, Jenny Giles and Elizabeth Tremain.

Malia Abayon plays the ghost of Isaac's mother; she gives an exceptional performance that adds depth to the production.

A lighting designer once told me that the key to good lighting design is that it be so seamlessly integrated into the action that it remains unnoticed. If that is the case, designer Robert Quiggle has some 'splaining to do, because his lighting choices are often odd; they left me wondering why he did such-and-such, rather than concentrating on the flow of the play itself.

Kristopher Ide's 'Fools Afloat' is directed by Olufunmilayo Alabi. This play also derived from the playwright's personal experience: in this case, the death of his father.

Brendan Ward gives an impassioned performance as a man struggling to come to grips with his father's death. This struggle takes him on an imagined boat ride with Ernest Hemingway (Christopher Mantione) and a unique vision of Adolf Hitler (Ryan Geraghty), in an old-fashioned bathing suit. (Kudos to costume designer Diego Suazo-Vacarezza.)

The cast also includes Gillian Heitmen, as Paul's girlfriend Francesca, and Thomas Barrack, as Francesca's former boyfriend John.

As Paul takes his imagined trip with Hemingway and Hitler, he pulls the unraveled bits of his life back together again; he's able to return with a greater understanding of himself and an ability to move forward in his relationship with Francesca.

Fourth-year psychology and dramatic art double-major Jazz Trice wrote and gives a very strong performance in 'Empty All the Boxes,' directed by Natasha Cooke.

Trice's character, Jaime, has been having visions of his grandfather as a young man (Gordon Meacham), and can't quite understand what this means. Jaime's attempt to share his experience with his sister, Nicki (the effervescent Sophiana Carrell), underlines the difficulties in their sibling relationship.

When their parents (Stephanie Moore and Kristopher Ide) return home, it becomes obvious that this family has a lot of relationship problems. Communication doesn't happen in this house. Can Grandpa's ghostly visits help break down walls when a potential health crisis erupts?

'This play drives and asks questions that are uncomfortable,' Cooke explains. 'It reveals reality and truth, and sheds humanity amongst those searching.'

Eurydice

The tragedy of the Greek god Orpheus has been told for as long as storytelling existed. The modern age has offered plays, operas and at least 30 films about Orpheus in many countries, from the United States and Japan to Czechoslovakia and Brazil.

It's the familiar story of love lost, found and lost again.

Orpheus' lover/wife Eurydice dies/is killed and goes the Underworld, where she's lost to Orpheus. He somehow finds a way to descend, to entreat the gods with his music and to achieve the release of Eurydice. But the permission includes a disclaimer and, of course, the rules are broken ... and Eurydice is lost forever.

Until playwright Sarah Ruhl came along, though, the story (probably) hadn't been told from Eurydice's point of view. Thanks to Acme Theater Company and director Emily Henderson, that omission has been corrected.

Ruhl's father's death in 1994 eventually inspired her one-act play, which was written in 2000.

By focusing on Eurydice's experience of her own death, and her journey into the underworld, we learn that she has been reunited with her father in Hades.

This father's love for his daughter is so strong that although the dead quickly forget their worldly attachments, he remembers his daughter; he seeks to get messages to her, during her lifetime. And, after her death, he reminds her of their relationship.

This Acme production has a strong cast. Hope Raymond and Torin Lusebrink, as Eurydice and Orpheus, have a warm and loving relationship. Their pre-marriage romps are full of joy, and are a delight to watch. Lusebrink is less effective later, in portraying Orpheus' anguish at the loss of his wife; he seems to focus more on his music than the emptiness with which he has been left.

Zach Salk's performance as Eurydice's father is more controlled than emotional, which may be fitting, given that he's dead. Sam Wheeler pulls out all the stops in his frenzied role as the Lord of the Underworld, played more as a petulant child with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. (Local bicycle maker Peter Wagner is given program thanks for the loan of his “awesome” bike!)

Rounding out the cast is a Greek chorus of “stones”: Hannah May as Big Stone; Gigi Gilbert-Igelsrud as Little Stone; and Amber Bianchi as Loud Stone.

Because of the nature of their characters, Bianchi and Wheeler are the easiest to understand. This intimate play, with its little cast, would work better in a smaller venue than Davis High School's Brunelle Performance Hall, where the audience area is so vast that many lines are lost.

The performances themselves are excellent, but I saw at least one audience member move closer to the stage after about 10 minutes.

Hannah May's set design is stark and rather bare, but the gray, rock-like curtains nicely delineate different parts of the set. And the method of arriving in the Underworld certainly is unique.

Delany Pelz's lighting design, integral to setting the various moods of the piece, works nicely.

In “Eurydice,” playwright Ruhl is working out her own conflicted emotions about death and the afterlife, based on her Catholic upbringing. That the piece seems confusing at times may indicate that she hasn't yet solidified all her feelings on the subject.

The Producers

If you want something to tickle your funny bone, do catch director Steve Isaacson's rollicking production of 'The Producers,' a first for the Davis Musical Theatre Company.

If you've just returned from a deserted island and have no idea that this delicious show was written by Mel Brooks, it wouldn't take more than a scene or two to figure it out. This is the show that Brooks has wanted to write his entire life: the musical that we've briefly glimpsed in several of his movies ... especially, of course, the 1968 comedy from which the plot of this show was taken.

'The Producers' is a fast-paced laugh from start to finish, with enough material to offend just about everyone: Jews, Nazis, old ladies, dumb blondes, corporate drones and just about anyone in between. And yet it's all done with such a sense of fun that you're amazed at the things that make you laugh.

It's burlesque all grown up.

For those few who may not have seen Brooks' original film, the story centers around Max Bialystock, a formerly successful producer who now can't get a hit to save his life, and who has become famous for his flops. DMTC's Martin Lehman doesn't quite have the bombast of Zero Mostel (but then who does?), but he's very funny in a role that seems perfect for him.

Into Max's office walks mild-mannered accountant Leo Bloom (Andy Hyun), who carries a strip of his baby blanket around in his pocket, to soothe himself in times of stress. Bloom discovers that it's possible for a producer to make more money with a flop show than with a hit ... if they plan it properly.

Hyun makes a perfect Bloom, with the wide-eyed innocence of a man who can be perfectly molded by the likes of Max.

And, thus, the team of Bialystock and Bloom is born.

They need the worst play in the world, the worst director in the world, and a bunch of gullible, horny old ladies as backers. When the show fails, as it is destined to do, Bialystock and Bloom will take off with their millions, to sun themselves on the beaches of Rio de Janeiro.

Let the fun begin.

And fun it is. It's difficult to pick any one scene as the best, but ranking right up at the top would be the chorus of horny little old ladies whom Bialystock will woo for their money, all tap-dancing with their walkers. It's one of the most inventive bits of choreography I've ever seen, and DMTC choreographer Ron Cisneros adapts it beautifully from the original Broadway production.

While 'The Producers' centers on Bialystock and Bloom, they're surrounded by a host of perfectly cast supporting players. First up is Kyle Hadley, as the pigeon-raising Nazi, Franz Liebkind, whose script - 'Springtime for Hitler' - is chosen for performance.

Then there's the fabulous director, Roger DeBris, played in beautifully campy style by Richard Spierto, along with his partner Carmen Ghia (Joseph Boyette), who gives new meaning to the term 'flamboyant.' Newcomer Boyette is a real find for DMTC, and easily steals his scenes.

Amy Jacques-Jones is Ulla, the Swedish bombshell who can run an office, paint a room during intermission, and star in a musical all without mussing a blond curl. Jacques-Jones, another newcomer to DMTC, is a real triple-threat; she not only acts, but dances and sings beautifully as well.

Everyone behind the scenes has pulled out all the stops for this production. Jean Henderson's costumes are outstanding, especially for the Busby Berkeley number. Dannette Vassar has concocted some pretty dramatic lighting, particularly for Roger DeBris and Carmen Ghia. Isaacson's set design, while merely utilitarian, serves the production quite well.

The only place where the show falters concerns the orchestra, with some downright painful passages by a few instruments, loud buzzing and then a booming electronic piano that nearly drowned out the singers in the finale.

Fortunately, the performers worked around the problems in the pit, and the audience still was treated to one of the most enjoyable shows ever to come out of DMTC.

Xanadu

Very good movie musicals have been adapted for the stage: 'Mary Poppins,' 'Beauty and the Beast' and 'The Lion King' come to mind.

And some equally fine stage musicals - such as 'My Fair Lady,' 'The Music Man' and 'Oklahoma!' - have been brought to the big screen.

But why would anybody want to take the 1980 Olivia Newton-John/Gene Kelly movie, 'Xanadu' - perhaps the very worst movie musical ever made (or if not the worst, definitely one of the worst) - and put it on the stage? One wonders what Douglas Carter Beane, Jeff Lynne and John Farrar ate the night before this crazy idea came into their heads, I assume in some strange dream.

What were producers Robert Ahrens, Dan Vickery, Mickey Liddel and Tara Smith drinking, when they agreed to put up the money to produce the show?

And what was California Musical Theatre thinking, when it booked the show into this year's season?

Somebody must be having the last laugh, though, because what at first glance would have seemed to be a train wreck waiting to happen managed to walk away with the 2008 Tony Awards for best musical, best book of a musical, best actress in a musical and best choreography ... not to mention the 2008 Drama Desk Award for outstanding musical, book of a musical, actor in a musical, featured actress in a musical, choreography and director of a musical.

Go figure.

The thin plot revolves around Sonny (Max Von Essen), a struggling artist, and Kira (Elizabeth Stanley), the muse who steps out of one of his graffiti drawings, determined to help him achieve the greatest artistic creation of all time: the world's first roller disco. (Hey, it is 1980.)

The secret of the stage show's success seems to be that it doesn't make any apologies for the abominable movie on which it's based. This production revels in it, and spoofs it constantly. (At the show's conclusion, for example, Kira is sent to live on Earth forever ... speaking with an Australian accent!)

Earlier on, Kira has stepped out of a brick wall along with several other muses. Two of them, Melpomene and Calliope, become jealous of Kira's deepening feelings for Sonny, and they stir up all sorts of trouble.

Melpomene was played on opening night by Amy Goldberger, a last-minute substitute for the ailing Natasha Yvette Williams. I don't know what Willliams' performance would have been like, but Goldberger was outstanding, giving one of the evening's most memorable performances.

Annie Golden is a very cute, if conniving, Calliope.

Larry Marshall plays Danny Maguire (later Zeus), owner of the theater Sonny wants to renovate; oddly, Danny seems to have his own memories of Kira.

This production, like so many others at Sacramento's Civic Center Theater, is plagued by sound problems. The decision to crank the sound up so loud distorts not only the songs - I don't think I understood a single lyric other than 'Xanadu' and 'Magic' the entire evening - but also the dialogue.

Fortunately, if you pick up a sentence here and there, the plot isn't that difficult to follow.

In addition to the overly loud amplification, the sound cut in and out periodically, sometimes leaving the actors reciting lines that couldn't be heard beyond the first few rows.

'Xanadu' seems to be a show that you'll either love or hate: no middle road. Fortunately, the Sacramento audience seemed to have a great time.

If you loved disco - and enjoy clapping along with bouncy tunes you can't understand - you'll probably love 'Xanadu.' It's a feel-good show, long on escapist entertainment and short on plot.

And even if you hate it, it runs a brief 90 minutes in a single act, so you'll be home early.

Sister's Christmas Catechism

People with little or no Catholic school education will have a much easier time getting into 'Sister's Christmas Catechism,' the newest offering at Sacramento's Cosmopolitan Cabaret, than its previous production of 'Sister's Late Night Catechism.'

That first show included many hilarious bits, most of which assumed that the people in the room were familiar with how things were done in Catholic grammar schools back in the day.

'Sister's Christmas Catechism' is the third in a series of very funny shows written by Maripat Donovan, all of which revolve around a no-nonsense nun pressed into teaching the basics of the Catholic faith to adults. This Christmas version, which continues through Jan. 3, includes a living nativity; preparation for this sequence comprises most of the second act, and must be seen to be appreciated.

Sister (Nonie Newton-Breen) plucks various willing - and not entirely willing - souls from the audience for this scene. She then costumes them in makeshift outfits cobbled from donations to the poor.

It should be noted that while almost all theatrical productions caution audiences against the taking of photographs, here everybody is encouraged to take pictures. Be sure to bring your camera; you'll be sorry if you leave it at home, especially if members of your group become part of the living nativity.

On the evening we attended, the ox was played by a well-known Davis police officer, which made things much more fun for us. (Following the show, he told me that he was glad not to have been picked to play the ass.)

The Christmas tableau doesn't merely tell the tale of the birth of Baby Jesus; that would be too ordinary. Instead, Sister has decided to solve a mystery that has long plagued her. This will be a sort of 'CSI: Bethlehem,' she explains, as she attempts to discover who stole the Maji's gold.

She points out that Mary and Joseph surely used up the myrrh and frankincense, but the gold must have been stolen because otherwise Joseph could have paid for a room in the inn, and gotten them out of the stable.

Newton-Breen, who has traveled the country in 'Catechism plays' for the past seven years, is well equipped for this role, having been born into a large Irish-Catholic family in Chicago. Since these plays rely heavily on audience interaction, her improv work - beginning with Chicago's famed Second City Theater - has served her well.

She also won the 2006 Ovation Award for her performance in this particular show.

While she makes an excellent nun, she's far less strict than Maripat Donovan - who starred in 'Sister's Late Night Catechism' - and isn't nearly as insistent as Donovan, at making us respond 'Yes, Sister' to every question. Newton-Breen isn't nearly as scary.

Each performance of 'Sister's Christmas Catechism' includes the assistance of a local church choir. The opening night performance featured the Holy Family Catholic Church in Citrus Heights, one of whose priests also participated in the nativity tableau, and definitely knew how to chew up the scenery!

This show is a lot of fun. If you were put off by the esoteric parts of 'Late Night Catechism,' don't let that leave any second thoughts about attending this one.

Second Generation of "Nutcracker" kids (feature article)

When Greg Wershing watched his 12-year-old son Brycen, playing Herr Drosselmeyer in this year's production of the 'Davis Children's Nutcracker,' climb inside the big grandfather clock, he had a flashback to 1985. That's the year the elder Wershing built that clock, and many of the other pieces of 'The Nutcracker' set.

It also struck him that his son Logan, 10, was the third generation of Wershings to be working at the Veterans' Memorial Theater (Greg's mother Susan Wershing worked tech for more than 20 shows, before she moved from Davis), and the second-generation Wershing to be involved with Davis' holiday tradition.

Both sons Brycen and Logan have been involved with 'The Nutcracker' for years. First, they were performers, and then Logan decided to follow in his father's footsteps and now works on the tech crew.

By 1985, a small group of young people - Chris Wong, Jon Lee, Phil Sequeira, Ned and Jeri Sykes, Derrick Wydick and Wershing, some of whom had come through the performing ranks of the 'Davis Children's Nutcracker' - had grown up and graduated to the tech crew. They had new ideas and were able to see many of them become reality.

'We built a Christmas tree that grows, an oversized fireplace, a big chair, and big and small grandfather clocks,' Wershing remembers. 'I built an oversized fireplace based on an existing fireplace prop and a giant chair based on a regular chair we acquired.'

Nearly 25 years later, most of those pieces have been replaced, but some still remain. Some of the adults who were once young people are still involved with the show, now watching their own children performing.

'I'm one of the bonafide dinosaurs of the show,' laughs Wydick, who, other than a couple of years when he and wife Laura lived in Fremont, has worked on every show since 1978, when he played Fritz.

'When I was 25, I had no idea this would happen,' says city of Davis Public Relations Manager Bob Bowen, who dreamed up the idea of the 'Davis Children's Nutcracker' and directed it for 10 years. 'I just thought we'd put on a show and 75 people showed up, put on burlap tunics and (we had) cardboard for sets. It's grown from there.'

The Bowen family is the obvious first instance of 'generational involvement.' Bob's wife Kate directed the show for three years. Three of his four children have been involved. Stacey Bowen was a bear, pennywhistle, treat (California raisin and Hershey kiss), Chinese dancer and snowflake. She was a leader for the little party guests, mice and bakers and also did sound for a couple of years and helped out backstage.

Tyler Bowen was the Mouse King, Fritz, a soldier and a gnome. He also worked on the sound and stage crew.

Heather Bowen was a pennywhistle, dancing bear, snowflake and treat. She was a leader for the snowflakes, leads and gumdrops and did stage crew. (Heather now has two children, but does not live in Davis. However, she is moving back to the area and who knows? Perhaps her children will start a third generation of 'Nutcracker' kids!)

Abby Verosub (now Abira Laurie) was a Chinese dancer in her one performance with the show, but she, too, graduated to the tech crew, though her brothers performed for several years. Laurie has returned to Davis after an absence of 23 years and is looking forward to watching her daughter perform in 'The Nutcracker.'

'She's going to be a clown,' Laurie says. 'In my day, we called them the 'rubber chicken brigade.' She's excited.'

Kelly Carlson's sister and brothers danced in 'The Nutcracker' 20 years ago, this year her three children - Kasey, Carter and Grace - will be on the stage.

Marianne Moore coordinated the show for many years as a city of Davis staff member, her younger sister performed, and now her own daughters, Samantha and Ella, are in it.

Wydick began taking daughter Katie to rehearsals when she was 15 months old.

'She was a squirmy little baby, but when the dancing started she would stop moving and focus her eyes on the stage and not move for 45 minutes,' he says.

Wydick brought her every year and the little girl desperately wanted to get on the stage. Now she's finally old enough and will be a snowflake in this year's production. Her plan is to be a flower when she becomes old enough.

Many Davis residents say the 'Davis Children's Nutcracker' is one of the gems of life in this community. It has become a Christmas tradition for many families.

'I'm glad it has been such a big part of my life,' Wershing says. 'I'm glad my kids have the opportunity to experience it before it's gone for good.'

'This has become a crazy institution that is part of growing up in Davis,' Bob Bowen says, laughing. 'It has become a shared experience between parents who once performed in the show and kids who are in it now.

'Maybe that's my enduring legacy,' he adds. 'That's pretty cool.'