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Saturday, December 17, 2016

"All is Calm" by Theater Latte Da at the Pantages Theatre

If you're looking for 70 minutes of calm, peace, and wonder in this crazy busy season at the end of this crazy busy year, look no further than Theater Latte Da's annual favorite, All is Calm. But look quickly because only a few shows remain this weekend at the Pantages Theatre. This is my fifth time seeing the show, and since I've written about it four times I don't really have any more words left to write. Except that this is a truly beautiful piece of music-theater. Created by Latte Da's Artistic Director Peter Rothstein based on extensive research, with gorgeous musical arrangement of traditional Christmas carols and military songs by Erick Lichte and Timothy C. Takach, All is Calm is a succinct and exquisite look at a moment of peace in the midst of war. An ensemble of a dozen men sing in breath-taking harmony and read (in a delicious smorgasbord of accents) the words of soldiers who experienced the Christmas Truce of 1914. With simple staging and costumes and no applause breaks to interrupt the storytelling, it's 70 minutes of beauty, sadness, and hope.

Read my thoughts on last year's show, which is virtually the same as this year's, here.
Read my thoughts on the previous version of All is Calm featuring Cantus here.