Playhouse will ‘Cancel Christmas’ next week

Will Santa Claus cancel Christmas? He just might at the Huntington Beach Playhouse next week.

For three days -- Tuesday through Thursday -- the playhouse will present its annual children’s Christmas show, “Cancel Christmas,” by Huntington Beach playwright Sam Younghans. It’ll be staged with music composed by Paula Samonte under the direction of Chris Grisey.

A troupe of young actors from the Orange County area will comprise the cast of this fantasy -- in which the evil troll King Bogwig of the North orders Santa to cancel Christmas.

In an attempt to end Christmas, Bogwig lures Santa to the great ice caves beyond the North Pole. Will Santa’s elves be able to save him? What about the new reindeer, Flasher, whose nose, unlike Rudolph’s, goes on and off like a neon light.

You can find out at any of the six performances scheduled for the playhouse’s theater at the Huntington Beach Central Library, 7111 Talbert Ave.

“This is a fun play with excitement, music and dance sprinkled throughout the story of Santa’s adventure with Bogwig,” said Catherine Stip, president of the Huntington Beach Playhouse.

It’s also the second original show by a local playwright for the playhouse this year. Earlier, the theater presented Huntington Beach writer Joe Syiek’s world premiere musical, “The Golden Dream.”

“Cancel Christmas” is new to Huntington Beach, Stip explained, but the play has been produced in other cities in California. It’s not exactly brand new -- it was first produced during the Christmas season of 1976 in Sonoma, and it has since been staged by several other theater groups in Northern California.

In 1996, it was produced in Escondido, followed by a 1999 production at the San Diego Children’s Museum.

“From the many comments from attending adults, it is evident that this is a play for children of all ages,” Stip declared.

Performance times for the Huntington Beach production are 3 and 7 p.m., with tickets priced at $12 for adults and $7 for children.

Reservations are being taken at the playhouse box office, (714) 375-0696.

* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Independent.

20051215gzgnh2ke(LA)