Kids For Kids Productions Presents THE HOLIDAY SPIRIT To Challenge The Norms Of Your Typical Holiday Cabaret

What happens when you take a traditional Holiday tale and turn it on its head? That's what Kids For Kids Productions Inc. intends to show audiences on December 6th and December 7th at 7:00PM with "The Holiday Spirit".

When Kids For Kids Productions reached out to Brendan Noble, a seasoned veteran of Long Island Theatre both on stage and off, to take on their Holiday Cabaret this year, he knew he wanted to do something different.

From the moment Halloween is over, Christmas and the Holidays seem to work their way into every aspect of life - Songs on the radio, Themed TV episodes, Hallmark Movies, Advertisements, Decorations, Toys - It's everywhere. Most people are Christmassed out before Thanksgiving even hits!

Noble knew he wanted to use the story line of A Christmas Carol as the basis of this year's cabaret theme, but needed to figure out a way to make Scrooge seem heartless rather than relatable.

Like most writer/directors, he turned to his real life for inspiration. As someone who is heavily involved in the arts across Long Island, he's no stranger to hearing from family and friends that "it's a fools passion!" or "to get a real job!". Hearing such things for years, Brendan had took a hiatus from Live Theatre on Long Island from 2009-2012 to get a "real job" as a Customer Service Rep at David's Bridal, a time he credits as being his most miserable years. It was in 2012 when an old mentor of his, the late Noel S. Ruiz, had reached out with a job offer to bring him back to theatre he grew up on. Since then, Noble has gone on to do many things in the Theatre world, including being part of original workshop productions of shows that have since gone to premiere across the country, as well as being part of the Marketing Team as a Brand Affiliate for Gettin' the Band Back Together on Broadway.

While drawing on his own life, yet changing some of the circumstances, Brendan had finally come up with the story line for "The Holiday Spirit":

The Holiday Spirit follows Christopher Scrooge, a once aspiring Broadway Composer & Lyricist - Now turned banker working at a Bank in Long Island's very own Sun-Vet Mall. Scrooge chooses to work at the Sun-Vet Mall bank location because it's the least likely place he will ever run into someone full of The Holiday Spirit. Unknown to him, the Sun-Vet Mall sees a spike in interest due to becoming a trending account on Twitter. Upon arriving to work on a cold December morning, he is shocked and appalled to see so many people in the Mall, including a choir of Christmas Carolers. One of his employees, Emily Winters, eager to get some previously approved time off to participate in her school's Talent Show, is now denied time off since the Mall is busy. After accusing Scrooge of living up to his name, Emily quits and storms off stage leaving Scrooge to file all of the days paperwork by himself. Suddenly, he is haunted by the spirit of his former business partner, Janet Marley, that he will be visited by three ghosts - The Ghost of Broadway Past, The Ghost of Broadway Present, and The Ghost of Broadway Yet-To-Be. Journeying through his life, using songs spanning across decades of Broadway Classics, the audience discovers why Scrooge had closed his heart off to all things Theatre and The Holiday Spirit.

Figuring out the story was half the battle, choosing the songs to use would be determined by the talent that auditioned. Brendan along with his production team of Matthew Byrne (Musical Director), Sarah Minto (Choreographer), Johanna Kelly (Stage Manager), came up with their wishlist of songs to ideally use. After two days of auditions of talented kids ranging from 8-18 from across Long Island, they finally had their cast. In an effort to further Kids For Kids mission of Theatrical Education, the production team also brought on Sam Lent and Regan Kincaid as their student assistant Director and student assistant Choreographer.

Cast (In Order of Appearance)

AJ Lafond as Buddy the Elf

Jason Pallini as Mall Manager

Ashley Pfeiffer as Jovie

Ella Beiser as The Narrator

Ronan Flynn as Christopher Scrooge

Madelyn Lang as Upset Shopper

Shea Alfano as Upset Shopper's Daughter

Kailyn Lamb as Emily Winters

Olivia Reiss as Janet Marley

Kelly Flynn as Ghost of Broadway Past

Brendan Bertos as Young Christopher Scrooge

Nadia Moosa as Young Belle

Dylan Pfeiffer as Young Nicholas Winters

Rafaela Scaduto as Young Janet Marley

Sebastian Santiago as Ghost of Broadway Present

Madison Espinoza as Ghost of Broadway Yet-To-Be

Tristan Hearth as Nicholas Winters

Ensemble: Abby Alfano, Shea Alfano, Ella Beiser, Brendan Bertos, Cadence Cocoran, Addison DeFalco, Jaime DiChiara, Madison Espinoza, Kelly Flynn, Tristan Hearth,AJ Lafond, Kailyn Lamb, Madelyn Lang, Bella Licata, Nadia Moosa, Jason Pallini, Ashley Pfeiffer, Dylan Pfeiffer, Olivia Reiss, Jessica Roche, Sebastian Santiago, Rafaela Scaduto, Alexandra Totillo, Lauren Walters

The Holiday Spirit will run Friday December 6th and Saturday December 7th at 7:00PM at Kids For Kids Productions (Centennial Hall at 500 Montauk Highway, Oakdale, NY, 11769. Tickets are $15.00 and can be purchased at https://tix5.centerstageticketing.com/sites/kidsforkids6/ or by calling 631-567-4770.

In addition to acting as a fundraiser for Kids For Kids, K4K will be collecting donations for Long Island Cares during intermission as a way of giving back to those less fortunate this Holiday Season.

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