NOTE: “Today” and “tonight” refer to Friday, Dec. 12.
SEQUIM — Eight singers, a four-piece band and a pair of ballroom dancers. Irving Berlin, “Frozen” and “Rent.”
This musical revue is a workout.
Named “Holidays on Stage & Screen,” it opens tonight for just three performances at Olympic Theatre Arts, with the premise of a bunch of musical friends getting together to dance, play and sing.
“I have chosen music about the feelings of Christmas: the togetherness, the hopes and dreams, the quietude,” said Jaie Livingstone, the director and a singer in the show. She produced a similar revue two years ago, and persuaded a friend who hated “Christmas music” to come.
“She walked out with a smile on her face,” recalled Livingstone, who’s assembled fellow performers familiar and new for this year’s revue. Tickets are $10 at the door of OTA, 414 N. Sequim Ave., while information awaits at www.OlympicTheatreArts.org.
For 7:30 shows both tonight and Saturday plus a 2 p.m. matinee Sunday, singers Lee Harwell, Livingstone, Joel Yelland, Jennifer Horton and Karen Pritchard will bring “First Time in Forever,” “My Favorite Things” and “My Simple Christmas Wish.”
Ryan Macedo will make his stage debut as a member of the ensemble, which will sing “We Need a Little Christmas,” “Let It Snow,” “Sleigh Ride” and “Christmas Is Coming.” Also in the mix is “Seasons of Love” from “Rent,” the Broadway musical.
“Rent” is set on Christmas Eve, yes, but “that’s a great song, with a beautiful message any time of year,” said Livingstone.
Harwell, Sequim’s veteran comic actor and director, plans on singing “Merry Christmas Darling” and “Santa Baby,” and Livingstone and Yelland will do a “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” duet.
“We also have some recent imports to Sequim who have impressive credits,” said Livingstone.
These include baritone Ray Chirayath, contralto Cathy Marshall and mezzosoprano Tina Ryan, who will add “Silver and Gold,” “Sisters” and “Christmas Waltz.”
Ballroom dancers Carol Hathaway and Jeff Stauffer will perform, to add some romance, and through it all, the “Holidays on Stage & Screen” band — Darrell Plank, Rich Crowell, Rick Marschall and LeRoy Davidson — will play.
Livingstone pitched this whole project as a fundraiser for OTA, and as a way to showcase local musicians.
“I perform to touch people’s hearts,” she said, “and this theater is a great place to do it.”
