The holiday sequel to the Southern hit GRITS: The Musical (Girls Raised in the South) centers on hilarious tales of holiday soirées and endearing family dysfunction. See how these four belles from four different generations cope with their countrified Christmas problems.
ACT I
Opening with a warm family room. Christmas trees and a fireplace, two chairs on either side. This production follows the same pattern as “GRITS: The Musical” using a quite from a famous GRITS gal as a transition between scenes, which moves into a story and then a musical number.
Georgia enters and places a present under the tree. She welcomes the audience with conversation about what the holiday history has been in the South and how the temperatures do not dictate the feeling of the season. While we may not all see a white Christmas, it is still a cozy and special time of year no matter what the weather may be! The remaining three women enter and sing (“Christmas in the South”).
Virginia then proceeds to tell us a shopping tale of tragedy and the group sings “Jingle All the Way,” a reimagining of “Jingle Bells” about her most hectic time of the year trying to find the perfect gift. Georgia then recalls her most favorite gift that she ever received, her Barbie dream house, and how she hoped to give her daughter that same exciting moment last Christmas. The American Girl Doll proved to be an adventure, but the outcome was as intended as she sings the ballad “The Perfect Gift." Flo shares with the group that you may already have the perfect gift in your possession as she comes from a long line of “Re-Gifters.” It is a good thing to recycle, she declares, but it can sometimes backfire on you. She tells a story of horror with one re-gifting incident and sings the doo-wop dong “Do the Re-Gift.” Charlotte has just been married, so she wasn’t buying into the whole “stressful holidays” idea until she and her new husband tried to make everyone happy all in one holiday season across two states and an airport, and ending up back where they started in 48 hours! She sings the love song “I Never Knew." Georgia chimes in about crazy family, citing her crazy aunt as a lifelong challenge during the holidays singing the song “Crazy Aunt Blues." All the women agree that the one thing everyone can agree on during Christmas is the FOOD! A long table with lots of “treats” on it is rolled center stage, and all the women sing a Southern culinary version of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” entitled “The Twelve Yummy Days of Christmas."
ACT II
All women enter wearing hoop shirts adorned in many different types of bells. Swinging the skirts to make them ring, they begin talking about how bells are important to BELLES during the Christmas season. Charlotte (a little slow this time) doesn’t quite understand, and so they all begin to sing about BELLS in the “Belle Medley." She finally gets it, and they discard the skirts. Charlotte tells a story about her disbelief in Santa Claus and how her grandmother turned her world around and she had the best Christmas ever. They all sing the jazzy number “Yes, There is a Santa Claus."
Georgia sits and recalls her favorite Christmas with a truly oversized Christmas tree that didn’t fit in the house, a need for an electricity upgrade, and how tacky can still be beautiful. She sings the country tune “Carolina Christmas." Moving deeper into the South, Flo then tells the story of Christmases past along the Mississippi River. How people used to celebrate when they had nothing. She talks of pineapple decorations, oyster shells in the streets, and “Le Grande Boeuf!” The ladies sing and dance in the aisles to the Cajun Zydeco tune “What the River May Hold." Virginia, moved by the education of the past, then talks about being an educator herself as a preschool director and tells a story about one little girl during a Christmas pageant and her search for the baby Jesus. She and Charlotte sing a duet (“Away in a Manger/I Want to See You”). All four women come together and share sentiment about the music of the season and the hope and recollection it brings. They close the show with a medley of carols, singing “Christmas Carol Medley."
Characters:
Virginia – 50-ish sassy mature-type, can do it all, soprano.
Florence “Flo” – 30-40-ish African American mom with attitude, alto.
Georgia – 30-ish society gal, put together mom, alto.
Charlotte – 20-ish college grad, bubbly and fun, soprano .
Setting: A cozy living room.
Performance Royalties are based on theater particulars. Please fill out an application for a personalized quote.
Billing responsibilities, pertinent copyright information, and playwrights' biographies are available in the show rider that comes with your license agreement.
Materials: Digital Materials are provided via email as downloadable PDF files for you to print in-house. All materials are yours to keep! No deposits, no returns.
Required production materials for Cinnamon GRITS: Christmas in the South:
Orchestrations:
Production resources:
Book, Lyrics & Music by Erica Allen McGee
Run Time: 1hr 55min
Cast Size: 4F
Themes: Southern women, Family, Holidays, Tradition, Gossip, Aging
FIVE BOURBON BALLS
FOUR PECAN PIES
THREE POUND CAKES
TWO HAM BISCUITS
AND A GALLON OF SWEET TEA
Cast, Act I
The holiday sequel to the Southern hit GRITS: The Musical (Girls Raised in the South) centers on hilarious tales of holiday soirées and endearing family dysfunction. See how these four belles from four different generations cope with their countrified Christmas problems.
ACT I
Opening with a warm family room. Christmas trees and a fireplace, two chairs on either side. This production follows the same pattern as “GRITS: The Musical” using a quite from a famous GRITS gal as a transition between scenes, which moves into a story and then a musical number.
Georgia enters and places a present under the tree. She welcomes the audience with conversation about what the holiday history has been in the South and how the temperatures do not dictate the feeling of the season. While we may not all see a white Christmas, it is still a cozy and special time of year no matter what the weather may be! The remaining three women enter and sing (“Christmas in the South”).
Virginia then proceeds to tell us a shopping tale of tragedy and the group sings “Jingle All the Way,” a reimagining of “Jingle Bells” about her most hectic time of the year trying to find the perfect gift. Georgia then recalls her most favorite gift that she ever received, her Barbie dream house, and how she hoped to give her daughter that same exciting moment last Christmas. The American Girl Doll proved to be an adventure, but the outcome was as intended as she sings the ballad “The Perfect Gift." Flo shares with the group that you may already have the perfect gift in your possession as she comes from a long line of “Re-Gifters.” It is a good thing to recycle, she declares, but it can sometimes backfire on you. She tells a story of horror with one re-gifting incident and sings the doo-wop dong “Do the Re-Gift.” Charlotte has just been married, so she wasn’t buying into the whole “stressful holidays” idea until she and her new husband tried to make everyone happy all in one holiday season across two states and an airport, and ending up back where they started in 48 hours! She sings the love song “I Never Knew." Georgia chimes in about crazy family, citing her crazy aunt as a lifelong challenge during the holidays singing the song “Crazy Aunt Blues." All the women agree that the one thing everyone can agree on during Christmas is the FOOD! A long table with lots of “treats” on it is rolled center stage, and all the women sing a Southern culinary version of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” entitled “The Twelve Yummy Days of Christmas."
ACT II
All women enter wearing hoop shirts adorned in many different types of bells. Swinging the skirts to make them ring, they begin talking about how bells are important to BELLES during the Christmas season. Charlotte (a little slow this time) doesn’t quite understand, and so they all begin to sing about BELLS in the “Belle Medley." She finally gets it, and they discard the skirts. Charlotte tells a story about her disbelief in Santa Claus and how her grandmother turned her world around and she had the best Christmas ever. They all sing the jazzy number “Yes, There is a Santa Claus."
Georgia sits and recalls her favorite Christmas with a truly oversized Christmas tree that didn’t fit in the house, a need for an electricity upgrade, and how tacky can still be beautiful. She sings the country tune “Carolina Christmas." Moving deeper into the South, Flo then tells the story of Christmases past along the Mississippi River. How people used to celebrate when they had nothing. She talks of pineapple decorations, oyster shells in the streets, and “Le Grande Boeuf!” The ladies sing and dance in the aisles to the Cajun Zydeco tune “What the River May Hold." Virginia, moved by the education of the past, then talks about being an educator herself as a preschool director and tells a story about one little girl during a Christmas pageant and her search for the baby Jesus. She and Charlotte sing a duet (“Away in a Manger/I Want to See You”). All four women come together and share sentiment about the music of the season and the hope and recollection it brings. They close the show with a medley of carols, singing “Christmas Carol Medley."
Characters:
Virginia – 50-ish sassy mature-type, can do it all, soprano.
Florence “Flo” – 30-40-ish African American mom with attitude, alto.
Georgia – 30-ish society gal, put together mom, alto.
Charlotte – 20-ish college grad, bubbly and fun, soprano .
Setting: A cozy living room.
Performance Royalties are based on theater particulars. Please fill out an application for a personalized quote.
Billing responsibilities, pertinent copyright information, and playwrights' biographies are available in the show rider that comes with your license agreement.
Materials: Digital Materials are provided via email as downloadable PDF files for you to print in-house. All materials are yours to keep! No deposits, no returns.
Required production materials for Cinnamon GRITS: Christmas in the South:
Orchestrations:
Production resources: