Christmas is a lot of things simultaneously. It’s a Christian holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus — the origin story of the superhero of the New Testament. The ways we observe it show the persistent influence of multiple phases of Western civilization, from pagan solstice rituals to Roman feast days to the crass commercialization that’s been dominant for the past century-and-a-half. It’s been a long time since Christmas adopted new traditions from people who practice other faiths, though many non-Christians observe Christmas for a variety of reasons.
It’s a time for coming together with loved ones, trying to get along with those who aren’t easy to love, battling toxic relationships and depression, and confronting your mortality. It can be a figuratively dark time of year, and it is literally the darkest time of year, with the fewest hours of sunlight. It’s the season for offering what help you can to those who are struggling. It’s also a season for reveling in pop culture nostalgia, and maybe even making some good new memories.
In other words, Christmas is a massive, messy phenomenon. The Spin was mighty gratified to have some company in which to grapple with it Dec. 21, the day of the winter solstice. On the longest night of the year, we headed over to the Trinity United Methodist Church for Nativity Now!, the latest iteration of the often-silly yet very much heartfelt musical Christmas pageant performed by The Spaceship of the Imagination. That’s the rich and inventive Carl Sagan-referencing synth ensemble led by keyboard wizard Matt Rowland, abetted by a cast of choice singers-turned-actors and actors-turned-singers.
The group doesn’t have any connection to the church, Rowland pointed out later. They got access to the space through Trinity Community Commons, a nonprofit funded by the United Methodist Church whose goal is finding uses for underused facilities, like this modest and pleasant sanctuary near the intersection of Trinity Lane and Dickerson Pike.
We took our pew while Jonny Gowow wrapped up his pre-show performance of solo Christmas carols on voice and organ with “O, Tannenbaum,” sung in German, as a psychedelic Santa swirled and melted on the projector screen behind the dais. Soon, a booming voice, sounding something like the Ghost of Christmas Present, issued a holiday greeting over the P.A., and the crew of the Spaceship took its places. The group played the theme from Chariots of Fire while the screen showed footage of the birth of stars and the Earth rotating majestically in space.
While the band played the theme from Home Alone, the cast arrived on the stage, which was set up to be a grade-school classroom on the last day before winter break. The curmudgeonly cold-brew-swilling teacher (Chris Crofton) was giving his class (Carey Kotsionis, Gabe Mintz, Carter Routh and Rowland’s sister Hannah) a couple of lessons about the history of Christmas.
The first lesson was a telling of the Nativity story, which followed Mary (also played by Kotsionis) and Joseph (Routh, doubling up as well) from the immaculate conception through Jesus’ birth in a stable, foretold by an angel band (Amy Smith, Grace Day and Hannah Rowland) to some randy roustabout shepherds (Dave Cate of The Shadowtones and Zachary Prosser from Z). J.J. LeFan, James Letorgeon and Kyle Neumann were the three wise men, sent to report on the birth of the Messiah by King Herod — introduced with “The Imperial March” from Star Wars and played with convincing petulance by a youngster named Petal Day — after some sub-Magic 8-Ball-quality prognostication by the royal magicians (Brandon Hook with Pujol’s Daniel Pujol and Brett Rosenberg). The wise men’s presentation of gifts to a glowing baby Jesus who could have subbed for the MacGuffin in Pulp Fiction was one memorable scene; another was Mary and Joseph’s escape to Egypt, during which they performed Toto’s “Africa.”
Then it was back to the classroom for some special guests: a quartet of Santas who each represented different eras in the evolution of Christmas celebration. Following a raucous rendition of “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town,” the first to deliver his spiel was the jolly capitalist Santa Claus (Bruce Ervin), who swore loyalty to his corporate overlords while knocking back ice-cold Cokes. Then came spooky Sinterklaas (Richie Kirkpatrick), who told tales of his white horse and his partner Black Peter, who delivers vengeance on bad children. He was followed by Saint Nicolas (Joel McAnulty), who talked through his fake beard about how he and the Roman emperor Constantine made Christianity cool in Europe. Finally came ultra-chill Mushroom Santa (Karl Punch), who discussed how his purpose was bringing light to the darkest time of year.
The presentation was followed by a love offering (or collection, depending on your denomination) during a lysergic recitation of “ ’Twas the Night Before Christmas.” In addition to money, unopened packages of socks and underwear were being collected to donate to homeless individuals. The final act consisted of a suite of holiday favorites sung by the class (plus Bobby Bare Jr. on “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire” and Amy Smith on “All I Want for Christmas Is You”).
Between some wry digs at Americana, Crofton concluded with remarks about how this bizarre, panic-attack-inducing holiday can actually help us through the turbulent time we’re in. In the end, Christmas is about making face-to-face connections with real people, whether we agree with them, or like them, or don’t. That’s a pretty useful tool when you’re trying to figure out how to keep your society from devolving into something nasty, brutish and short-lived.
Amazingly, we were trusted with fire: The Santas handed out candles, which we lit for a group sing of “Silent Night” that ended the show. The warm feelings that came from singing along with a few good friends and a bunch of strangers was just the kind of light we needed in order to banish the long dark.
In The Spin — the Scene's live review column — staffers and freelance contributors review concerts under a collective byline.
The Spin: The Spaceship of the Imagination at Trinity United Methodist Church, 12/21/2017
