The Best Christmas Pageant Ever at the SCERA Center for the Performing Arts

Last night I went to see The Best Christmas Pageant Ever at the SCERA Center for the Arts and now I can say that I have seen just about every Christmas-themed show this holiday season (A Christmas Story, A Christmas Carol, White Christmas, and Elf The Musical). I had never seen this musical before and I thought it was really cute with great performances from its young cast! The Herdman kids, including Ralph (Symon Livingston), Imogene (Summer Olenik), Leroy (Tristan Bush), Claude (Jackson Seaver), Ollie (Desmond Tolman), and Gladys (Scout Olenik), have the reputation of being the worst kids in the world. Their father left them and their mother works several jobs so they are on their own most of the time and lie, swear, smoke, steal, and bully the other kids at school. The one place the other kids feel safe is at church because the Herdmans never attend. This changes when Charlie Bradley (Lewis Anderson) tells them that they serve snacks during Sunday School. The Herdmans show up looking for food on the day of auditions for the annual Christmas Pageant and Grace Bradley (Natalie Merrill), who has reluctantly taken over as director for the injured Helen Armstrong (Angela Bradford), allows them to participate. The Herdmans force the other kids to let them take the lead roles but, when they disrupt the rehearsals, Reverend Hopkins (Steve Winters) decides to cancel the pageant. Grace has a change of heart when she and her family deliver a Christmas basket from the church members to the Herdmans and she sees how much they appreciate it and the pageant goes forward. Ralph, as Joseph, and Imogene, as Mary, treat the baby Jesus with love and tenderness, Gladys, as the Angel, announces the birth with real fanfare, and Leroy, Claude, and Ollie, as the Wise Men, bring the baby Jesus real gifts of food from their Christmas basket instead of useless gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The church members are very moved by the more realistic portrayal of the Christmas story and declare it to be the best Christmas Pageant ever! I really loved the messages about acceptance, charity, and the true meaning of Christmas and the songs are a lot of fun, especially "Take My Lunch" as Charlie stands up to the Herdmans at school,"Problem" when Helen tells Grace that she is ruining her show, "My Mother Said" (to the tune of "Carol of the Bells") as Beth (Zoe Morris), Alice (Virginia Seaver), and Ivy (Olivia Bradford) argue over which of their mothers has the correct opinion about the way the pageant should be run, and "Die Herod Die!" when the Herdmans react with compassion to the harsh realities faced by the Holy Family. Everyone in the cast does an outstanding job, especially the young actors who play the Herdmans, but I really loved Anderson because he has a lovely voice as Charlie and Bradford because she is hilarious as the overbearing Helen. The stage is configured as a church with beautiful stained glass windows and simple set pieces for the lunchroom, the Bradley home, and the hospital and brought on and off stage by the ensemble. My favorite costumes are those worn by the kids during the pageant (the Wise Men are especially fun). This is absolutely delightful and I definitely recommend it but there are only two more opportunities to see it and tickets are going fast (go here).

Note:  This was my final show of 2025.  This year I was able to see 85 theatre productions and my favorites were the Broadway touring productions of Suffs and Life of Pi at the Eccles Theatre, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at the Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles, Macbeth at the Utah Shakespeare Festival, and Twelve Angry Men at HCT.