special to the star
Christmas will arrive in hilarious holiday fashion at the Meridian Little Theatre on Thursday with the week long run of “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.”
This wholesome family play was taken from Barbara Robinson's well known short story and later made into a movie starring Loretta Swit. The Seattle Times stated it is “One of the best family Christmas stories ever – and certainly one of the funniest.”
“The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” directed by David Miller with Jimmy Pigford as the executive producer, is about the comic efforts of Grace Bradley (Lisa Sollie) and her husband Bob (Robert Steiskal) to put on the church's annual Christmas Pageant, despite having to cast the Herdman kids – some of the meanest, nastiest, most inventively awful kids in history. This play is packed full of mayhem and fun with the daughter, Beth Bradley (Sarah Page Sikes) narrating and Charlie Bradley (David Thaggard) playing the typical kid brother.
McCall's Magazine called this head-on collision with the Herdman kids “An American Classic.” The Herdmans, Ralph (Jesse Seale), Imogene (Blake Barham), Leroy (Wes Presnall), Claude (Hunter Howard), Ollie (Taylor Hosch), and Gladys (Addie Madden) are the worst kids in town and have never even heard of the Christmas story. They volunteer to take on the major roles in the play in hopes of getting free food and proceed to invade the helpless church and take over the pageant.
Colorful characters in the play are Mrs. Armstrong (Michelle Pasha), Mrs. Slocum (Candace Andrews), Mrs. Clark (Candice Keene), Mrs. Clausing (Mary Ann Varela), Mrs. McCarthy (Buffi Crouch) and Reverend Hopkins (David Hosch). Cameo appearances will be made by Tom Sikes and Bill Barham as the Firemen.
The other kids in town who are terrorized by the Herdmans include Alice Wendleken (Rachel Varela), Maxine (Britton McElroy), Elmer (John Thomas Goldman), Hobie (Cooper Thaggard), Darlene (Chloe Johnson), Beverly (Anne Presnall), Juanita (Christina Mogollon), Doris (Grayce Crouch), and Shirley (Emma Rose Maloney).
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‘The Best Christmas Pageant Ever’
Opening in Meridian Thursday
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Local law enforcement officials honored
State Rep. Greg Snowden said he remembered as a child looking up to those "men in blue."
He said police officers in uniform were larger than life, riding in their patrol cars and carrying guns to protect and serve the population. Today, he said he is still in great admiration of the men and women who put their lives on the line every day so that citizens can feel safe. -
MPD probes vehicle crash
Evidence of a mother's desperate attempt to save her children from harm were spread all over a car lot — and could be seen on her as well in the form of bruises, cuts and scrapes.
Tuesday night, a vehicle with three children inside crashed through a plate glass showroom floor window damaging four new cars and totaling the vehicle the children were in. -
Skeleton found in residence
Members of the forensics team of the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation (MBI) were called to a dilapidated home in Chunky to probe the discovery of a skeleton.
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Police search for robbery suspects
Two men who reportedly robbed a woman at gunpoint in the parking lot of a local bank are still being sought.
Mike Vick, public information officer with the Meridian Police Department, said the two men approached a woman about 8 p.m. Tuesday at the ATM of Regions Bank on North Hills Street. Vick said one of the suspects was armed with a handgun and after taking an undetermined amount of cash and the victim's car keys, the two suspects fled on foot. -
City cuts payment to Watkins
The Meridian City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to cut their monthly payment to David Watkins, project developer of Meridian's new police station, by $9,999 until work resumes on the project.
The order, made during the Meridian City Council meeting Tuesday morning, included a mutual agreement between the councilmen and Watkins to reduce the project developer's monthly consultant fee of $10,000 to $1, effective Tuesday. -
Crews work on gasoline pipeline
If you hear a loud, booming sound early today, between 4 a.m.-10 a.m., there is no cause for alarm.
Workers with Plantation Pipeline will be performing maintenance work on their 30-foot gasoline pipeline in the Meridian area to accommodate the widening of Highway 493. The location of the work activity will be at Highway 493 North and Oak Hill Baptist Church, just inside the city limits. -
Team Spirit
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High Honor
The flowers and balloons Crestwood Elementary School Principal Kimberly Kendrick received at school Monday were not an early Valentines' Day gift.
Kendrick has been named Meridian Public School District's 2012 Administrator of the Year – an announcement that both surprised and wowed the 17-year veteran educator when made by MPSD Superintendent Dr. Alvin Taylor. -
Master Dance Class
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Digital system promises better communication
Hopefully in the near future you won't hear someone in the emergency services ask over the radio, "Can you hear me now?"
A digital communications system, one which is being pushed by the Federal Communication Commission (FCC), is a few months away and, in some cases, is already in the testing phase in Lauderdale County. - More Local News Headlines
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