Customer Reviews

Instant Christmas Pageants: The Not-So-Silent Night

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's important to know it's for a cast of 24 characters. I bought it hoping it would work for a total of 6 kids, but there's no way to cut it down that far.

If you have a larger number of children as cast members, I think it would be a fun production.

I loved the premise of this play: Shepherds who visit baby Jesus on the night of his birth are so excited about the events of the evening that they make a great deal of noise and are arrested for disturbing the peace. The play takes place in the court room where the shepherds are on trial. I laughed out loud at the witnesses for the prosecution, especially Dr. Sigmund Fruitcake! The children performing the play loved it, too.

"Not-So-Silent Night" is an EASY, cost effective, children's Christmas Pageant to produce. It's "easy-to-use" format allows children to part-take based on their areas of interest and abilities. Parental involvement is minimal and gives children inspiration and freedom to produce their own costumes and props.

If it wasn't for the ease that "Not-So-Silent Night" presented, down to promotional flyer ideas and caroling sheet also included, I doubt we would have been able to complete our first pageant in the time constraints we faced to the success and platitudes we received. I personally recommend this pageant for any group looking at preparing a children's production.

I coordinate our Sunday School which has around 30 - 40 kids. We ran 'electives' rather than ordinary classes for the 4 weeks prior to our play. The 'drama' elective practiced and memorised the speaking parts, the 'angels' learnt a dance, the music people learnt one of the songs from the CD and practised carols for the play. The rest did crafty things and became the nativity scene cast on the night. They only had to arrive on stage at the appropriate moment while the speaking parts described the scene. Then they remained during the rest of the play. It was a minimum of work as the bits were divided up between leaders and it all came together beautifully on the night.
The quirky story line provided a really interesting promo for the other members of the congregation who were fascinated to come see the end.
I would recommend it for any group of 15 or more kids.

I loved the premise of this play: Shepherds who visit baby Jesus on the night of his birth are so excited about the events of the evening that they make a great deal of noise and are arrested for disturbing the peace. The play takes place in the court room where the shepherds are on trial. I laughed out loud at the witnesses for the prosecution, especially Dr. Sigmund Fruitcake! The children performing the play loved it, too.

We did this play last year (2006) and it was great. The teens acted out the dramatical scene and the younger kids (grades 1-6) sang the songs. The plot is very funny and a new twist on the Christmas story. The only thing I wasn't crazy about was the music. For it being a children's play, the music was sang by adults and in a very complex way. It was beautiful but not very kid-friendly. So I just bought a kids' Christmas cd from the local Christian bookstore and replaced the music with kids' versions. The kids and I loved it.

This is a very good program. It is easy to put together and flexible. It is a good story with a real message to it and well written.
We didn't care for some of the voices on the CD, and decided to make our own recording with our own kids. But that just gave us an opportunity to involve more kids. It is great fun!!

The dialogue is cleverly comic keeping the audience engaged and wondering what wacky character will be the next to be cross-examined. Costuming is a cinch. Staging is simple. The children pantomime their roles so there is no dialogue to memorize or microphones needed.
If you are looking for a traditional children's choral presentation with anthems, look elsewhere. If you are looking for a program that is unique, easy to plan, produce and rehearse, then The Not-So-Silent Night will delight you, the children and your congregation.

I love this series of 5 books!! Each one offers a different perspective on the Christmas story. Each book comes with a CD with all the music and spoken lines on it. All children do is act along with what is being said on the CD. Audience members are encouraged to participate through singing as well. The costumes are super easy to make and there are great tips for adjusting the program to fit the number of actors. I love all 5 of these books and HIGHLY recommend them to anyone looking for an easy to do, fun and professional looking Christmas Pageant for children!

It was a hit at Church for our annual Christmas play. Quick ship time with no problems. Thanks for all the help