By Robert Tomlinson
News Director
THREE RIVERS — For decades, Make We Merry was a staple of the holiday season in the Three Rivers area.
The annual holiday variety show, originally put on by the Three Rivers Community Players as their annual fundraiser, brought together soloists, choirs and more as a way to usher in the holiday season in Three Rivers through song, dance and other acts, a tradition that had ended in 2019.
Now, a revival of Make We Merry will be coming up in two weeks, under the care of Three Rivers Area Mentoring (TRAM), and organizers say the show will be bigger and, they hope, better than ever.
“There’s just something that when you think about Christmas traditions in your family, a lot of people have grown up going to Make We Merry with their family every year,” Make We Merry Director Jennie Miller said. “I do think bringing it back just brings back that special hometown tradition that we have missed for the last several years.”
The revival of Make We Merry will take place Dec. 5-7 at the Riviera Theatre in downtown Three Rivers, with the Friday, Dec. 5 and Saturday, Dec. 6 shows starting at 7 p.m. and the Sunday, Dec. 7 matinee starting at 2 p.m.
Each night will feature around 20 acts performing a variety of holiday-themed acts, from the Make We Merry ensemble choir, soloists, and a group of TRAM students performing some numbers, to a magic show, flute choir, and book readings, and an appearance from Santa Claus. Some acts will only be performing on certain shows, but many of the acts will remain consistent from show to show.
Tickets are $12 for adults and $8 for children 12 years old or under, and can be purchased at the Riviera Theatre, Lowry’s Books and More, the TRAM office on Railroad Drive, and on the night of each show at the door. Proceeds from ticket sales will go directly to TRAM to benefit their mentoring and after-school programs.
TRAM Executive Director Mary Yost said the idea to bring back Make We Merry came from Tim Tole, who she said came to her one day with the idea, and while she didn’t know much about it at first, she was in favor of going for it.
“I said, I don’t really know anything about Make We Merry. I remember everybody being very excited about it, but I never participated in it,” Yost said. “Tim contacted Jennie, and he and Jennie kind of got the ball rolling, and then we had a meeting, and we brought it to our board, and the board said, let’s do it.”
Miller, who also directs the Three Rivers High School musical productions, said joining up with the show was a no-brainer, given that she had directed a few of the Make We Merry productions before the original run of the show ended.
“Tim Tole and I work at the high school together on the shows and he helps build all of my sets. So, we have a very wonderful working relationship. He mentioned it to me and I was so surprised at first,” Miller said. “Then I realized what an amazing opportunity this was to bring it back and help such a wonderful organization.”
The nonprofit was even able to get the blessing of Diane Foghino, who was the longtime organizer and director of Make We Merry, to use the name for the show. That, Yost said, was a reason she believes the show was meant to come back for the community.
“It’s just another element that was meant to be, that it’s meant to come back, it’s meant to be a cool family activity for Christmastime,” Yost said. “I don’t think that Jennie would have come on, I don’t think it would have come into Tim’s brain, I don’t think that Diane would have given her blessing and the board would have approved it if it wasn’t meant to happen.”
So far, the pair said, rehearsals and practices for the show have gone well, in particularly with the TRAM ensemble, whom Yost said are still a little nervous, but are working hard to put on a good performance.
“They’re nervous, and they’re a little squirrely about it, and I think that in our little ensemble choir, we’re working hard,” Yost said. “Tt’s amazing when you put a kid on stage, even if they’ve never been on a stage before, and they get the reaction from the audience. What it does for these kids is absolutely magical. I’m excited for them to be on a real stage for the first time, singing, kind of dancing.”
Miller said the three-day length of the show is something they are going to try, given that previous Make We Merry performances had been one-night-only affairs, but the traditional weekend of the show – the first weekend of December – was not going to change.
“We made sure that we’re not putting something in where there was already something going on in our community,” Miller said.
Overall, Yost said those who come to see the show on any or all of the three days it’ll be on can expect to find “joy and happiness” in the nostalgic production.
“I think there’s just going to be a lot of Christmas cheer and joy,” Yost said. “Hopefully people are going to walk away a little happier about the holidays.”
Robert Tomlinson can be reached at 279-7488 or robert@wilcoxnewspapers.com.
