The Not-So-Silent-Night: Instant Christmas Pageant (Just add kids!)

We did this today in church- very well received! This is the 4th or 5th "Instant" pageant we have done. They each tell the timeless story in a new way and are light hearted enough to keep the children engaged.We do not use the CD at all, not a fan of the recorded lip-synching thing and we're fortunate to have a top notch accompanist. It's not "instant" but we do manage to do it with 3 hour long rehearsals (with alot of encouragement to practice lines at home.) I also let children have notecards (hidden if possible) with their lines if they need them. Rarely do, but makes them less stressed= good.This particular pageant worked exceptionally well for those without alot of rehearsal time. Because it's a court scene, there are very logical places and cues for most characters. (Eg the witnesses come up when they are told to come up.) The nonspeaking parts are a little trickier, but we put an older teen or parent with them to know when to go.Secondly, again because it's a courtroom, it makes perfect sense for your main characters (attorneys, judge) to have papers over the table- can include scripts. We had one shepherd not sure of his lines- we taped his to the side of a large stuffed lamb he carried to the witness stand!We did drop most of the songs- they seemed to break up the flow of the story too much. The children sang Joy to the World at the end. Our pianist played Silent Night, We Three Kings, etc as background as those characters came in.Worked very well.

We are using this play this Christmas season. We had planned to use the cd version, which is hilarious, but we got it in enough time that the kids have listened to the Cd so many times they are able to use their own voices and even mimic the cd. It is a very easy play and very funny. It has a wonderful Christmas message!

A fun little musical for Christmas Eve. We used teen and preteen actors for speaking parts, which they memorized and rehearsed in weeks preceding, and then included younger children who showed up for the service as lambs, angels, and shepherds guided by older kids. Adults got a lot out of the message and loved watching it. Well-written and with some good laughs. We loved included the congregation in singing the carols.

Cute, funny. Couple of misprints.

Excellent program and our Church loved it. It is different from thr same old nativity scene and has come laughs and singing along the way as well!

Great for our kids play at church this year.

What a great Christmas play for our church! We did it with youth and children. They loved performing in it and the church loved the performance.The message was inspiring!

We love it just like the description says.