More holiday productions ahead

More Christmas-themed productions are opening this week along the Wasatch Front.

FARLEY FAMILY XMAS, James Arrington's long-running "improv comedy" spoofing family gatherings, is returning to Utah Valley State College's Ragan Theater for the sixth year, with five performances Monday through Dec. 18.

The one-man show is built around eight or nine characters — all familiar to those who have followed the Farleys and their strange reunions over the years. The characters may be well known, but Arrington promises that each show will be "a little different."

Audience members are encouraged to dress up in their best Christmas costumes to participate in a contest for prizes.

Performances are 7:30 p.m. Monday and Thursday-Saturday this week and Dec. 18. Tickets are $10 for the general public, $8 for children, senior citizens and non-UVSC students and $6 for UVSC students. They're available in advance at the Campus Connection or by calling 863-8797.

CHRISTMAS LEGENDS is the theme for this month's Babcock Performing Readers' program on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in the Little Theatre of the University of Utah's Union Building.

In a slight departure from most BPR programming, this week's gathering will include commentary on the history and stories behind several beloved Christmas carols and musical performances by the Sandy Senior Glee Club, the Brighton Children's Chorus and soloists Dave Davis and Jim Allred.

Tunes will range from "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" and "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" to "The First Noel" and "Ring Out, Wild Bells."

Admission, parking and refreshments are all free.

A VICTORIAN CHRISTMAS SHOW, showcasing elements of turn-of-the-century vaudeville and "magic-lantern" slide shows, will be Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., in Brigham Young University's Pardoe Theatre.

Presented by the American Magic-Lantern Theater, based in East Haddam, Conn., the evening will include Victorian-era slides projected on a large screen and a series of musical numbers, such as the medieval English song, "The Boar's Head Carol," and John Hays' "Little Britches."

"O Holy Night" will be presented as a song from the depths of the Civil War and a plea for peace, while the black spiritual, "Mary Had a Baby," tells of slaves waiting for "the train of deliverance" to come.