A Civil War Christmas at 1st Stage Theatre

A Civil War Christmas

1st Stage Theatre
1524 Spring Hill Road Tysons

It's 1864 and Washington, D.C. is settling down to the coldest Christmas Eve in years. "History lessons and holiday warmth sit cozily alongside each other" (The New York Times) in this pageant of carols by Paula Vogel, the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer of Indecent. Stories of many intertwining lives- spanning from the battlegrounds of Northern Virginia to the halls of the White House- demonstrate that the gladness of one's heart is the best gift of all.

Thru - Dec 23, 2018

Thursdays: 7:30pm

Fridays: 8:00pm

Saturdays: 2:00pm & 8:00pm

Sundays: 2:00pm

Box Office: 703-854-1856

www.1ststagetysons.org/plays-events/#current-show

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A Civil War Christmas Reviews

Average Rating based on 4 reviews

Highly Recommended
Recommended
Somewhat Recommended
Not Recommended

Washington Post - Recommended

"...Starnes makes the storytelling both intimate and tonally capacious: A natural continuum seems to link comic sequences (a horse and mule falling in love) with sad ones (a dying soldier) and historical cameos (by the likes of Ulysses S. Grant). The tuneful music, a major element in the production, also figures in the mood shifts. Three onstage instrumentalists interpret atmospheric incidental music and accompany the songs, which include carols, spirituals and historical songs such as "Maryland, My Maryland." (Music director Markus Williams died shortly before opening night; music direction is now attributed to Williams, Walter "Bobby" McCoy and Leigh Delano. Daryl Waters supervised, arranged and orchestrated music for the original production of "A Civil War Christmas," at Connecticut's Long Wharf Theatre.)"

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- Celia Wren

DC Theater Arts - Recommended

"...A Civil War Christmas at 1st Stage is a strong addition to plays that connect with the holiday season. Playwright Paula Vogel embraces and examines provocative themes in this piece, looking at all of the loss and potential renewal near the end of the Civil War, at Christmastime. Vogel built the story around existing period music, including hymns and carols. The music, arranged by Daryl Waters and directed by Markus Williams, helps connect multiple stories which are interwoven on a very cold Christmas Eve in 1864 in Washington, D.C."

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- Chuck Leonard

DCTheatreScene - Recommended

"...Vogel's stories run from the powerful (a young girl (Karma Price), newly escaped from slavery, wanders the freezing streets of Washington looking for the home of the one man she knows will protect her - Abraham Lincoln) to the trivial (Mary Todd Lincoln (Rebecca Ballinger) obtains a Christmas tree for the White House, not knowing that it was intended for her friend and seamstress, Elizabeth Keckley (a very strong Ayanna Hardy, in good voice)). Vogel gives all the stories equal time, more or less, and as a result, tension-filled narratives are interrupted by more comic ones. In less skilled hands this might become frustrating, even disengaging, but director Deidre Lawan Starnes moves the action along smoothly; the actors appear at precisely the correct moment, in character (there are twelve actors playing, by my count, forty-five characters), often moving pieces of Jessica Cancino's set with them."

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- Tim Treanor

BroadwayWorld - Highly Recommended

"...1st Stage's A Civil War Christmas is a must see this holiday season. Through its songs and intersecting storylines, it captures the spirit of the holidays and teaches a bit of history. Not only this is musical good for adults to see, but it is also one which children would enjoy as well."

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- Hannah Wing

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A Civil War Christmas at 1st Stage Theatre