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It's never too early to get into the spirit of generosity that the holiday season seems to bring out in people. San Jose's Tabard Theatre Company kicks off its season on Nov. 7 with a holiday play that offers a worthy message that can inspire year-round. The company presents The Gifts of the Magi, a musical play based on two short stories by writer O. Henry. Early 20th-century New York City is the backdrop for these two tales. The city comes alive on stage, literally, to help tell these two special stories.
The play takes its name from perhaps the most well-known of O. Henry's stories, "The Gift of the Magi," about a loving young couple who make big sacrifices in order to give each other meaningful gifts for Christmas.
Jim and Della Dillingham used to have a prosperous household, but after some bad luck, the Dillinghams find themselves close to poverty. Husband and wife find that what little money each of them has managed to save for Christmas proves to be too paltry a sum to purchase a gift worthy of their beloved spouse. So, unbeknownst to the other, Jim and Della each forfeit one of the two greatest material treasures of their home in order to obtain the presents they think will perfectly express their love--which the gifts just might do more powerfully than Jim and Della could ever have imagined.
Intertwining with this tale is "The Cop and the Anthem," a story about a vagabond named Soapy. For most of the year, Soapy's home is a bench in Madison Square--until the weather turns prohibitively cold, and then he "overwinters" in jail. Soapy vainly tries to get himself arrested in a variety of small, harmless ways just so that he will have a warm place to spend the harsh winter, but all his usual tricks, plus a few others, fail to extend the long arm of the law--and its "hospitality"--in Soapy's direction. After a failed petty crime spree, Soapy unexpectedly happens upon a way to turn his life around, if he can just get the chance to do it.
The Gifts of the Magi is directed by Tabard's managing artistic director Cathy Spielberger Cassetta, with music direction by John Q. Leslie. David Hundsness, Ruth Dyer, Shannon Zeig, Lamar Alexander Hughes, Mark Drumm and Chris Tann star in this heartwarming holiday musical.
Tabard Theatre Company presents 'The Gifts of the Magi,' Nov. 722, at South Valley Christian Church, 590 Shawnee Lane, San Jose. Tickets are $10$15. For more information, call 408.979.0231 or visit www.tabardtheatre.org.
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