They're back! Christmas Carnivals brings back the irrepressible gospel-singing Sanders family in A Sanders Family Christmas, Smoke on the Mountain, Part 2. And they're right here at Christmas Carnivals Sanders Family Christmas.
The story is written by Connie Ray with idea man Alan Bailey. The team includes Director (and FM88 theatre critic) Teresa Doggett, Musical Director Kevin Kurth, Technical Director Dan Steinau, guitarist (and FM88 theatre critic) Daniel Higgins, banjo player Dave Landreth with Christopher Limber as the group's leader Burl Sanders, Donna Weinsting as his wife Vera, and Anna Blair as their signing, not singing, daughter June successfully reprise their roles from last season.
Plot Track
It is Christmas Eve 1941. The inviting smells of the season mingle with the vinegar of the pickle plant and bittersweet sentiment as young men, including the Sanders' twin, Dennis (Eric Little) prepare to join the army as the U.S. enters WW II. With the audience looking at watches, the enthusiastic multiple-purpose Pastor Oglethorpe (Chopper Leifheit) accompanied by spinster June Sanders rush in shedding coats and apologizing for the tardiness of the group. The others, digging their way out of a snow bank, soon follow: Parents Burl and Vera; the twins, Dennis and star-struck Denise (Julie Venegoni); Burl's reformed ex-con-now-minor-star brother Stanley (Steve Isom); and the musicians, Kurth on the keyboard, Landreth on banjo, and Higgins on guitar. After Vera and Oglethorpe trade dueling scriptures, solid entertainment begins but waxes poignant as this is the last family performance for awhile because of the war.
Check out Christmas Carnivals Sanders Family Christmas.
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