The Night Before Christmas

Salt Lake Dance Center brings The Night Before Christmas to the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center this December, with two performances: Friday, December 4, at 6 PM and Saturday, December 5, at 1 PM. It's a dance production produced by Jillana Webb and written by theater director Neil Hess, and it takes Clement Moore's old Christmas poem and stretches it into something much bigger than the original.

Instead of just following the poem, the show carries you through a few different settings: the Palace of the Christmas Fairy, the Land of the Nutcracker Sweets, the Kingdom of the Snow Queen, and Santa's Palace. It's a full evening—120 minutes including a ten-minute intermission—and it's recommended for ages 4 and up, so it works as a family outing.

There's some solid pedigree behind it. Jillana Webb is an alumna of the Chicago Opera Ballet and a graduate of the New York School of American Ballet, and she produced the show. The writing comes from Neil Hess, a theater director. Between the two, you've got a ballet background and a theater background working on the same piece, which explains why it expands a short poem into a full-length production.

The show is at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, specifically in the Jeanné Wagner Theatre at 138 West 300 South in Salt Lake City. The center opened in 1997 and moved into its current building in 2001, which was once the home of Rose and Harry Wagner, the founders of the Wagner Bag Company. Their son, Izzi Wagner, named the center in honor of his mother; the Jeanné Wagner Theatre is named for his wife, a dancer, and the Leona Wagner Black Box is named for his sister. It's a family-named space for a family-friendly show. Two dates to choose from: Friday, December 4, at 6 PM and Saturday, December 5, at 1 PM.