Christmas magic at The Resort
From left, Molly Allen, Ellen Travolta and Abbey Crawford will be performing at The Coeur d'Alene Resort to bring Christmas magic to the community through Dec. 19. HANNAH NEFF/Press
Opening tonight, the singing and storytelling trio is back to bring Christmas magic to The Coeur d’Alene Resort.
Ellen Travolta, a veteran of stage, film and TV, is back for the ninth year to put on her original Christmas production, this year themed, “Saving Christmas.”
She said it all started with her and her sister Margaret telling stories about the Travolta family.
“People loved it,” Travolta said. “So we changed it to asking people in the community to tell us about their experiences.”
Four years ago, Travolta asked daughter Molly Allen and Abbey Crawford to join, with Crawford adding her cabaret singing and Allen her radio personality.
“It’s the highlight of my year because I get to spend an hour a night, four nights a week for four weeks, with people I really love,” Crawford said. “It’s always fun with the audience because they are always so engaged.”
Crawford said basically the idea of a cabaret show is to speak to the heart and move the audience.
“What Ellen has created has been something people really identify with,” Crawford said. “It’s something they look forward to because it gives them that holiday spirit that they want.”
For this year’s theme, Travolta said they asked people to write letters about how they saved Christmas and still celebrated the holiday last year despite the pandemic.
The trio will read the letters, sing and tell short stories, all while interacting with their audience, although they don’t encourage the audience to respond.
“It's such a simple format that we can really have fun with it,” Allen said. “There's organic stuff that can come from each performance that may be a little different each night.”
Travolta said the best part of the show is just being together and appreciating each other, as well as the fun they have. She encourages everyone to get their tickets early because they sell out.
This year’s show is directed by Troy Nickerson and accompanied by Jenny Shotwell on piano and Kristina Phillips on bass. The trio is wardrobed by Marmalade and Marie's Boutique in downtown Coeur d’Alene.
The show runs every Thursday to Sunday through Dec. 19th. Thursday through Saturday performances start at 7:30 p.m., and Sundays will begin at 5:00 p.m.
Tickets are $30 at cdachristmas.com. Overnight accommodations are available at The Coeur d’Alene Resort.