Theater Review: Beef and Boards Dinner Theatre: A Beef and Boards Christmas 2013

Beef and Boards Dinner Theatre, Indianapolis, ends its 40th year with the annual Christmas proffering, Kenny Shepard and Deb Wims cohost the traditional holiday production A Beef and Boards Christmas.

With a few changes in the regular cast, Beef & Boards Orchestra takes the stage throughout the entire production bringing them the attention well-deserved. “Winter Wonderland” and “Carol of the Bells” stand out as they are performed by the seven-piece orchestra, led by Kristy Templet. It would be simpler to say the orchestra was the narrator of the production, performing 30 numbers during the holiday show, never leaving the stage.
New this year is the best Santa Claus I have witnessed on the B&B ~ or any Indianapolis ~ stage. I like to go into these things without too much prior knowledge, in keeping with the rest of the audience. Once I took note of the stage presence and voice of this particular Kris Kringle, I looked up the performer's name.

Jeff Angel.

Seriously, Angel is his last name and he is playing the angel of good children throughout the world. And doing it extremely well. His booming voice and bouncy nature draw the adults and children forward in their seats to catch every word he speaks. During intermission Santa captures the wonderland moment with children at a 'photo with Santa' area. When not donning red velvet and whiskers, Angel can also be found at TOTS, Footlite Musicals and other area stages. Hopefully he will return to this stage sans the Christmas gear in the Beef and Boards 2014 season schedule.

Well known carols are included again this year with notables including, "I'll Be Home for Christmas," reminding us that everyone isn't  home this year.

Peter Scharbrough (Les Mis) is delightful mixing it up with The Grinch. Frosty dances across the brand-new setting, complete with a cozy home feeling, designed by Michael Layton.

Bottom Line: A Beef and Boards Christmas offers family friendly holiday fun, flying reindeer and an unbeatable Santa Claus.

Images: JulieCurryPhotography.com

Elizabeth J. Musgrave is a syndicated fine-living, travel, food, wine and spirits columnist, freelance writer and photographer, and performing arts and restaurant critic for Gotta Go. Read Infused, her spirits, wine & beer lifestyle column, at www.GottaGo.us and www.FoodDigital.com and catch her as Indy’s Personal Lifestyle Adviser on Indy Style, WISH8 (CBS). Gotta Go is published on www.Gottago.us, www.BroadwayWorld.com, and in print. Follow her on Twitter @GottaGo, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Beef and Boards Dinner Theatre 2014 Season Lineup Features a Flying Nanny, Fiddlers, Farmers, Fortresses & Felines

One of the things I like best about Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre is its desire to include a well-balanced selection in its annual offerings. Its 2014 season includes classics, comedies and current favorites. Every year theatergoers look forward to the season lineups throughout the city, hoping they will be refreshing and well considered. The disappointment of a tired, just-like-every-other lineup is as real as opening a birthday or holiday gift to find not the gift you'd dreamed of, but a generic one.

Although "Cats" is certainly familiar to B&B visitors, it has actually not played there since 2009. Opening the season with a comedy, as is their tradition, the Ken Ludwig Tony-Award winning, "Lend Me a Tenor" stands out as different than their normal fare, as does "Anything Goes" a Cole Porter musical.

I am not the only one, I'm certain, to compare versions of the same production ~ whether a film or stage performance. Mary Poppins played in Indy in 2009 with Broadway Across America Indianapolis (read my review here), and I intend to catch B&B's version to review, compare and (hopefully) enjoy as it truly is one of my favorite stories.

2014 Season

Lend Me a Tenor

Dec. 28, 2013-Feb. 2, 2014

A world-famous singer is set to perform with the Cleveland Grand Opera Company, but all doesn't go according to plan in this madcap comedy set during the 1930s. Winner of three Tony Awards ~ celebrating its 25th Anniversary in 2014.

Cats

Feb. 6-March 30

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s seven-time Tony Award winning story celebrates the annual gathering of the Jellicle cats at which one is selected to ascend to the Heaviside layer. Based on the universally popular poetry of T.S. Eliot and also marking its 25th Anniversary in 2014, Cats remains the second-longest running Broadway musical in history.

Anything Goes

April 3-May 11

Two unlikely pairs set off on a course to true love on the S.S. American in this classic boy-meets-girl tale. But they’re going to need the help of a crew of singing sailors, exotic disguises and good old-fashioned blackmail to reach their destination. Celebrating its 80^th Anniversary in 2014, this musical comedy features music and lyrics by Cole Porter.

Mary Poppins

May 15-June 29

With a little magic and a lot of common sense, Mary Poppins is a nanny like the troubled Banks family has never seen before, and she teaches them to value each other again. Based on the books by P.L. Travers and the classic Walt Disney film.

Church Basement Ladies:
A Mighty Fortress is Our Basement

July 5-Aug. 17

The new installment in the "Church Basement Ladies" series, which includes the original CBL, and A Second Helping. It's 960 and that means new high heels for confirmation, a food booth at the county fair and driving lessons. This musical comedy was inspired by the books “Growing Up Lutheran” and “Those Lutheran Ladies” by Janet Letness Martin and Suzann Nelson.

Oklahoma!

Aug. 21-Oct. 5

The first collaboration of Rodgers & Hammerstein is set in Indian Territory at the turn of the 20th century where farmers and cowboys collide and love doesn't come easy for one particularly headstrong pair. Based on the play “Green Grow the Lilacs” by Lynn Riggs, Oklahoma! originally opened on Broadway in 1943 and has spurred four revivals.

Fiddler on the Roof

Oct. 9-Nov. 23

Marking its 50^th Anniversary in 2014, the nine-time Tony Award winning musical embraces tradition in a changing world. Even in the tight-knit Jewish community of Anatevka, social mores are changing and anti-Semitism is growing in Czarist Russia.

 A Beef and Boards Christmas

Nov. 28-Dec. 23

The season is beautifully celebrated through song and story in this original production (read reviews for 2009, 2010, 2011, here), that has become a tradition for many families for more than 20 years.

  

A Christmas Carol

Dec. 6-22

The one-hour adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic, A Christmas Carol, is onstage for select performances. Enhanced with holiday carols, this iconic tale portrays miserly Ebenezer Scrooge, who is given a second chance.

CHILDREN’S THEATRE 2014

The Pyramid Players is designed to entertain children of any age. Youngsters also have the opportunity to meet the cast after the show for pictures and autographs. Performances take place on select Fridays at 10 a.m. and Saturdays at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Performances last one hour, are presented without intermission, and include juice and a snack.

How I Became a Pirate

Feb. 14-March 15

 Based on Melinda Long’s popular children’s book of the same name, this musical brings to the stage the tale of young Jeremy Jacob’s high seas adventure.

Sleeping Beauty

Oct. 17-Nov. 15 

This classic fairy tale made popular by the Brothers Grimm centers around a beautiful princess, who is destined to fall into a deep sleep for 100 years until being awakened by a prince’s kiss.

MEMBERSHIP & TICKET AVAILABILITY

 VIP Memberships for the 2014 season go on sale to the public starting Sept. 3. Individual show tickets to the general public start Oct. 1.

Tickets, directions and showtimes are available at BeefandBoards.com.

Images: Beef and Boards

Elizabeth J. Musgrave is a syndicated fine-living, travel columnist, freelance writer and photographer, and performing arts and restaurant critic for Gotta Go. Read Infused, her spirits, wine & beer lifestyle column, at www.GottaGo.us and www.FoodDigital.com and catch her as Indy’s Entertainment Adviser on 93 WIBC. Gotta Go is published on www.Gottago.us, www.BroadwayWorld.com, an in print. Follow her on Twitter @GottaGo, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Broadway Across America Indianapolis 2013-2014 Season Gets Wicked with Ghost, Flashdance and Mormons

BroadwayInIndianapolis.com brings fresh shows and a (now) classic favorite to the 2013-2014 season. Check back to GottaGo.us for reviews of each of the shows or catch them on WIBC Saturday mornings.

2013-2014 SEASON

FLASHDANCE
October 1-6, 2013
*Clowes Hall
FLASHDANCE-THE MUSICAL tells the inspiring and unforgettable story of Alex Owens, a Pittsburgh steel mill welder by day and a bar dancer by night with dreams of one day becoming a professional performer. It features the biggest hit songs from the movie, including the Academy Award-winning title song "Flashdance - What a Feeling," "Maniac," "Gloria," "Manhunt," and "I Love Rock & Roll."

WICKED
November 13-December 1, 2013

*Old National Centre
Back by "Popular" demand. Variety calls WICKED "a cultural phenomenon,” and when it last played Indianapolis in 2011, it broke box office records and sold out in record time. Winner of 35 major awards, including a Grammy and three Tony Awards, WICKED is the story of  long before that girl from Kansas arrives in Munchkinland, two girls meet in the land of Oz. One - born with emerald green skin - is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. How these two grow to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good makes for "the most complete - and completely satisfying - new musical in a long time" (USA Today).

GHOST THE MUSICAL
March 4-9, 2014
*Old National Centre
Relive the iconic and magical moments from the Oscar-winning movie GHOST in a brand-new Broadway musical. GHOST THE MUSICAL follows Sam and Molly, a young couple whose connection takes a shocking turn after Sam's untimely death. Trapped between two worlds, Sam refuses to leave Molly when he learns she is in grave danger. Desperate to communicate with her, he turns to a storefront psychic who helps him protect Molly and avenge his death.

MEMPHIS
April 1-6, 2014

*Clowes Hall
From the underground dance clubs of 1950s Memphis, comes a hot new four-time Tony winning Broadway musical with explosive dancing, irresistible songs and a thrilling tale of fame and forbidden love. Inspired by actual events, MEMPHIS is about a white radio DJ who wants to change the world and a black club singer who is ready for her big break. Come along on their incredible journey to the ends of the airwaves -- filled with laughter, soaring emotion and roof-raising rock 'n' roll.

THE ADDAMS FAMILY
May 13-18, 2014

*Clowes Hall
THE ADDAMS FAMILY is a smash-hit musical comedy that brings the darkly delirious world of Gomez, Morticia, Uncle Fester, Grandma, Wednesday, Pugsley and Lurch to spooky and spectacular life. Come meet the family. We’ll leave the lights off for you.

THE BOOK OF MORMON
June 17-22, 2014

*Old National Centre
THE BOOK OF MORMON features book, music and lyrics by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone. Parker and Stone are the four-time Emmy Award-winning creators of the landmark animated series, “South Park.” Tony Award-winner Lopez is co-creator of the long-running hit musical comedy, Avenue Q. The musical is choreographed by Tony Award-winner Casey Nicholaw (Monty Python’s
Spamalot, The Drowsy Chaperone) and is directed by Nicholaw and Parker.

For more information visit BroadwayAcrossAmerica.com and Broadway.com.

Elizabeth J. Musgrave is a syndicated fine-living, travel columnist, freelance writer and photographer, and performing arts and restaurant critic for Gotta Go. Read Infused, her spirits, wine & beer lifestyle column, at www.GottaGo.us and www.FoodDigital.com and catch her as Indy’s Entertainment Adviser on 93 WIBC. Gotta Go is published on www.Gottago.us, www.BroadwayWorld.com, an in print. Follow her on Twitter @GottaGo, LinkedIn and Facebook.