Page 8
November 29, 2017
Arts &
ENTERTAINMENT
Portland’s Singing Christmas Tree is a 350-voice choir performing contemporary and traditional
holiday music at the Keller Auditorium with shows continuing through Sunday, Dec. 3.
Singing Christmas Tree
55th annual show includes Jefferson Dancers
P ierCe g irkin
Portland’s Singing Christmas
Tree is lighting up Keller Audi-
torium for its 55th season with an
all-new lineup of songs and per-
formances, as well as some old
fan favorites.
The 350-voice choir performs
a two-hour show that showcases
both contemporary and traditional
holiday music with performances
Thursday, Nov. 30 through Sun-
day, Dec. 3 at Keller Auditorium.
The production will also in-
clude dance numbers by the Jeffer-
son Dancers, special performanc-
es by local actors and musicians,
and a cinematic “living nativity” -
a Hollywood-esque version of the
story of the birth of Jesus Christ.
No production of the Singing
Christmas Tree is identical year-to-
year, said Wes Walterman, director
by
and CEO of Portland’s Singing
Christmas Tree. Walterman spends
countless hours during the off-sea-
son making sure each year’s show
is new and exciting.
The Singing Christmas Tree
held its debut performance at
Benson Polytechnic High School
in 1962 with a modest budget of
$500. Since then, the show has
grown substantially, and has had
to relocate multiple times to ac-
commodate increasing audience
sizes. In 1968, the Singing Christ-
mas Tree settled into Keller Au-
ditorium, and has been there ever
since.
In the spirit of holiday charity,
the Singing Christmas Tree orga-
nization makes sizeable donations
to various youth programs and
high school music programs, in-
cluding Doernbecher Children’s
Hospital, the Juvenile Diabetes
Foundation, and the Snowman
Foundation.
Despite many of the show’s ex-
plicitly religious themes, the orga-
nizers and producers of the Sing-
ing Christmas Tree have made
great efforts to foster inclusivity
among religious and secular audi-
ence members.
The second half is more reli-
gious in nature, with a live-scored
nativity performance and a hand-
ful of gospel tunes. The “cinemat-
ic nativity,” as the producers call
it, may be the crown jewel of the
Singing Christmas Tree.
Tickets for Portland’s Singing
Christmas Tree are on sale now
through Portland’5 Centers for the
Arts website.
Pierce Girkin is a writer from
Metro.
Holiday Breakfast Theater
The Peppermint Bear stars in Lakewood Theater’s
Holiday Magic Breakfast theatre program.
Santa’s workshop is in a tizzy when his
chair and then magic jingle bells go missing.
Lakewood Theatre Company presents
an all-new version of their annual Holiday
Magic Breakfast Theatre production with the
presentation of the Peppermint Bear and the
Giant Elf.
Performances take place at 11:30 a.m. in
Lakewood’s community meeting room on
Dec. 2, 9, 10, 16, 17, 22 and 23. There will
also be 9:30 a.m. shows on Dec. 9, 16, 22 and
23. The theatre is located at the Lakewood
Center for the Arts, 368 S. State St. in Lake
Oswego.
Tickets are $15 for adults and $12 for stu-
dents. Advance reservations are required by
calling the box office 503 635-3901 or order
online at lakewood-center.org.