Submitted photo From left, Susan Criswell and Geneva Foster portray students as they decorate a tree in the show “Christmas Memories: The Fabulous ’50s” to be presented Friday and Sunday at Mill Race Center.
Twinkling lights is one thing this time of year. But writer and director Donna Browne gets something of a twinkle in her eye about reminiscing at Christmas.
She remembers being a child of the 1950s amid the happy strains of tunes such as “Jingle Bell Rock” and the down-home decor of construction paper garland.
“On the internet, I found so many things like this that brought back wonderful (childhood) memories,” Browne said.
The leader of the local Lasting Impressions drama and singing troupe has crafted the original, two-act “Christmas Memories: The Fabulous ’50s,” another of her annual, 90-seat dinner theater holiday shows set for 6 p.m. Friday and 1 p.m. Sunday at Mill Race Center, 900 Lindsey St. in Columbus. Sadie’s Family Dining locally is providing the meal. At press time, the Friday show was nearly sold out.
Most of Browne’s cast is in their mid- to late 70s, meaning they grew up close to the same era she did and share many of her warmest recollections. And Browne knows her audience well enough to know that, besides Sadie’s popular catering, nostalgia feeds attendees as much as anything.
That includes one of Browne’s fondest yuletide of yore memories: larger-bulbed Noma lights on trees and elsewhere.
“Those were a big seller,” she said.
Her production also includes references to S&H Green Stamps, school and church plays, life-sized dolls, and of course, that definitive slice of holiday Americana — the Sears Christmas catalog.
Much of the music interspersed through the drama includes many songs Browne remembers well from her growing up years: “It’s Beginning To Look a Lot of Christmas,” “Nuttin’ for Christmas,” and “Suzy Snowflake.” “I Want an Old-Fashioned Christmas” functions as a kind of theme song for the production.
Browne’s script includes a family with parents, seven children and a set of grandparents under the same roof. It also makes room for a look at the creation of the first Nativity, credited to St. Francis of Assisi in 1223 in Italy.
The audience will also be taken through the Biblical story of the birth of Jesus.
About the show
What: The Lasting Impressions annual dinner theater holiday show, “Christmas Memories: The Fabulous ’50s” with a meal served by Sadie’s Family Dining
When: 6 p.m. Friday and at 1 p.m. Sunday
Where: Mill Race Center, 900 Lindsey St. in Columbus
Tickets: $25 includes dinner and the show, available at Mill Race Center and at the door.
