On Saturday night, I had the distinct pleasure of taking two very special young ladies - eleven-year-old Hannah and six-year-old Madison - to the theatre, since Countryside Community Theatre's Annie seemed the perfect choice to foster their love for live performance. And love it they did, calling the production "awesome" and "really good." As for me, I... didn't exactly love it, but liked it well enough.

the Holly Jolly Christmas ensembleNo show that opens with 10 sharply dressed, great-looking, terrifically talented performers dancing a spirited tap number can be all that bad, which is a good thing for Holly Jolly Christmas, the musical revue currently playing at the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse. Considering, however, that the production has no loftier purposes beyond entertaining crowds with familiar holiday tunes and spreading a little yuletide cheer, I think audiences could be easily forgiven for turning to their theatre-going companions after the curtain call and saying, "Well, that was nice... but what the hell was it?"