Featuring seven vignettes, Westfield High presents its 2007 "Ho-Ho Holiday Shows," this Friday, Dec. 21, at 10 a.m. and noon; tickets are $4 at the door. The shows are:
* 'Twas the Night: Student directors are Ben Reese and Lindsay Thomas. "Three people will narrate the story, there'll be a lot of actors and dancers, and it's set to the music of the Trans Siberian Orchestra," said Reese. "The kids start dreaming and go into the world of the Sugarplum Fairies, and then there's dancing and a guitar battle — almost a swordfight with guitars."
* A Hanukkah Story: Directed by seniors Sarah Cowdery and Allison Wruk, it's about the first Hanukkah. "Not only is the play funny and exciting, but it also teaches a lot of history," said Wruk. "It tells of the Macabees' rebellion and how their oil burns for eight nights. We show a family at dinner and the grandfather tells the story."
* Charlie Brown: Seniors Mariam Haider and Lee Doubleday are directing. Doubleday said Charlie's "trying to bring back Christmas the way it's supposed to be, and not commercialized. He gets a scrawny, real Christmas tree, instead of a pink, metal one, and everyone gets mad at him."
But Linus eventually explains the true meaning of Christmas and everyone's happy.
* Frosty the Snowman: Directing are students Mandy Bains and Joyce Kim. "Professor Hinkle has a magic hat that brings Frosty to life, and the kids find it and put it on Frosty," said Kim. "But a magician wants it because of its magic and tries to get it from Frosty. So the kids try to take Frosty to the North Pole."
* Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins: Seniors Jonathan Goldsmith and Neil Gunn are directing. It's a Jewish, bedtime story teaching children about Hanukkah, and the students converted it to a play. "Hershel comes to a town where they don't celebrate Hanukkah because the Goblins forbid it," explained Gunn. "They put a curse on the town, and the only way to break it is for Hershel to spend eight nights in an old synagogue on a hill."
* Rudy the Red-Nosed Reindeer: It's directed by Kyla Waitt and Jade Jones, and Waitt describes it as "the basic Rudolph story, but a little more modern, with hip dialogue. For example, the reindeer will tell Rudolph, 'You can't play video games.' And the costumes will be spray-painted T-shirts for the reindeer, instead of just being brown and plain."
* The Grinch: Directing are seniors Nick Cirillo and Cate Lightburn. "We'll have narrators read the book, and in between their lines from the story will be lines from the movie with Jim Carrey," said Cirillo. "Everybody loves the movie Grinch, and you don't see that Grinch in many children's shows."