Toys that made Christmas featured in holiday show

By DEVIN WEEKS

Staff Writer

COEUR d’ALENE — Nothing compares to the magic of Christmas morning.

It's the fresh snow that fell on Christmas Eve, the church bells ringing across the land and the pure joy of children who tiptoe down the stairs and erupt with excitement when they discover that Santa brought them that one special toy they've been dreaming about.

The magic has been captured from the memories of local folks, wrapped and tied with a bow, to be delivered to audiences this Christmas season when Ellen Travolta's "Christmas Unwrapped" opens at The Coeur d'Alene Resort on Friday.

"We had lots of submissions of wonderful stories," Travolta said.

Earlier this year, Travolta asked community members to send in their toy stories to be shared on stage. She said a few of the stories were sad and spoke of toys never received, but the majority of them were positive.

"There was a great appreciation for their parents and how much they sacrificed for their children,” she said. "That hit me."

Ellen, sister Margaret Travolta and Ellen's daughter Molly Allen star in this yuletide walk down memory lane, which, in Christmas special fashion, features singing, dancing, laughter and the talents of a different guest each week: New York cabaret singer Mark Cotter, producer and performer Laura Sable, actor Patrick Treadway and local actress and vocalist Abbey Crawford.

So many submissions of stories came in that they all couldn't possibly be read during the show, Ellen said, so a wide variety of different and interesting toy tales were chosen.

"It makes the community a part of the show. It engages the community, and that’s what I think is important,” Ellen said. "Last year was great too. They responded to it."

In an intimate cabaret setting, Ellen said she can sense the joy of the audience members when she’s on stage performing.

"There's just a real camaraderie, a real togetherness, a very family feeling,” she said.

Margaret said she loves working with her family, and Allen agreed.

"To get to live where we live, and to be able to do a show, and have it be successful, and get to work together is pretty amazing," she said.

Allen said since the names of those who submitted stories will be shared, people will most likely know someone or of someone whose letter will be read.

"That was the fun part last year," she said. "You could hear people go, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s my mom’s friend.'"

This will be Ellen’s sixth season of bringing a special holiday production to Coeur d’Alene, and every year is different.

Director Troy Nickerson, who has directed Ellen's Christmas shows for several years, said Ellen, Margaret and Molly know the material quite well, which makes it fun to watch as they “bounce off each other.”

"It makes my Christmas for me,” he said. "It’s a good time. They behave so much as family that it’s nice. It’s nice to be around."

"Christmas Unwrapped" opens in the Shore Room of The Resort at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Performances will be Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 5 p.m through Dec. 16. Tickets are $27.50.

Tickets and info: https://bit.ly/1xSb6Y0