In its eighth year, “Home for the Holidays” is a Southwest Florida tradition. TheatreZone Artistic Director Mark Danni says the two-hour yuletide revue will set the tone for Christmas week.
“The point of our show is that you walk out and you’re ready for the holidays,” said Danni. “This gets you in the spirit for it. Wonderful costumes, wonderful live music, great performers, beautiful lighting, and just a fun, fun show to come see.”
Courtesy of TheatreZone
The revue showcases four male and four female performers. The cast combines professional Equity performers and a few young stars of the future, adding charm and fun to the performances.
Several of the performers — and songs — are the same from year to year.
“We do a beautiful finale, that I do the same every year because it ends so nicely, with a Barry Manilow song called ‘Because It’s Christmas (For All The Children),’ and that’s a great way we end every year,” Danni said.
In addition to traditional Christmas songs, audiences will be treated to a mix of nostalgic pop numbers, like “Jingle Bell Rock,” and more modern numbers. Plus, TheatreZone always includes a surprise or two for returning patrons.
“A couple of years ago, listening to Sirius FM, all of a sudden the Village People kicked in, which was the music to ‘Macho Man’ and ‘YMCA,’ but it was called ‘Disco Santa,’ and they changed the whole lyrics…. I went and found it on YouTube, I sent it to our music supervisor, and he arranged it and orchestrated it and so we’re doing ‘Disco Santa’ this year with our four guys. Very fun and festive!” Danni said.
“Home for the Holidays” is more than a jukebox musical. Set-up skits and dialogues with the audience are interspersed among the songs, and there’s typically an audience participation moment.
“There’s going to be a special new number this year that will involve that which I’m not going to give away right now,” Danni said, laughing. “We usually try to get the audience engaged, if nothing else, shouting things out to us. So again, it’s very fun and festive.”
“Home for the Holidays” will be on stage for four performances, Dec. 20-22.
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The show originated when Danni had the idea to do a fun holiday revue to kick off the season.
“We put together our own show and called it ‘Home for the Holidays,’” said Danni. “We put together a variety of songs with eight performers — four ladies, four men. We mix it up. We put some funny skits in between songs. We have wonderful costumes, light-up headpieces. Just an enjoyable time. We wanted to keep it festive. We wanted you to go out singing, smiling and laughing.”
TheatreZone has a live band for every show it produces.
“Really well orchestrated by a wonderful orchestrator whose gone on to great success,” said Danni. “Graduated from NYU in orchestration and composition, who I met back when he was a student when I first moved here at the Community School of Naples. Very talented kid. So he does our orchestrations and arrangements and they’re just beautiful.”
The show changes each year.
“We don’t do the same show every year,” said Danni. “We do some numbers that are the same. They’re not necessarily in the same order, and you’re not necessarily going to see the same songs every year. But some of them you may see reoccur. Some you may see every other year. And over the eight years, we’ve added stuff. So we have a wide variety of songs that we have orchestrated for our band. We have arrangements done. We do different costumes. So when you come every year, you’re going to see a fresh show.”
The cast also changes from one year to the next.
While Danni doesn’t adapt the show to each year’s cast, he does pick songs that are well-suited to individual cast members.
“It’s always a cast of performers who can sing, act and dance,” Danni explained. “But there are occasions when we say, ‘Oh, you know who would be really funny doing this?’ or ‘You know who would really sing this well?’ or ‘So and so is cast, this would fit really well in their wheelhouse.’”
In addition to “Disco Santa,” this year’s production will feature the Karen Carpenter song, “Merry Christmas, Darling.”
“You don’t know who you’re going to see on the stage,” Danni added. “You don’t know what songs you’re going to hear on the stage. I will tell you this. They will always be up. They will be fun.”
TheatreZone is a professional equity theater that is located in Naples. An equity theater means that the members belong to the Actors Equity Association.
Mark Danni is the founding producing artistic director of TheatreZone, a professional Equity theatre company in Naples. He also created and runs the theater program at The Community School of Naples.
Danni has been involved with many Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regional productions as a director, music director, conductor and drummer/percussionist. His New York City directing credits include “What Would Esther Williams Do In A Situation Like This?,” “Sea Fever” and “Aggravation.” He has conducted national tours of “Les Miserables” and “Barnum,” and as a drummer/percussionist, Danni’s Broadway credits include “Chicago,” “Annie Get Your Gun,” “Les Mis,” “Miss Saigon,” “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” and “Grand Hotel.”
Danni has also been a part of national tours of “The Phantom of the Opera,” “Fame,” “Hair,” “42nd Street,” “Nunsense” and the European tour of “Evita.”
Danni is a member of The Society for Directors & Choreographers and the American Federation of Musicians.
