This is the review that I wish I wasn't writing. The punchline is: Narroway Theater advertises itself as a Christian Theater, but I'm sorry to say it isn't. If you'd like to know why, read on.
We received 4 tickets as a gift to go see " The REAL Christmas Story" on 11/11/23. Myself, my husband, and our 10 year old twins were excited to go, and drove a few hours to get there.
We got there early and browsed the gift shop: filled with Christian shirts, mugs, decor, bumper stickers, etc. that were filled with Bible verses and "keep Christ in Christmas" sentiment. We went into the theater to find our seats, and when dinner was served, a man came out center stage to say a prayer over the meal with the entire crowd. Good start. The meal was about what you'd expect from airline food; they're trying to keep costs down; fine. That's not what I'm here to talk about.
After dinner was cleared, the two ladies who were the writer and musical director of the show came out. They spent about 15 minutes speaking passionately about the importance of prayer and writing God's word on our hearts. Good. They told a beautiful story about a live donkey in the show being a rescue animal and a reminder of how we are all in need of salvation. I teared up. This was off to a great start! These folks seem to be genuine! Then...the show started.
Within 10 minutes my husband and I exchanged shocked sideways glances that said, "Are you seeing what I'm seeing? What in the world...??" The show began in Santa's workshop, with an adult manager elf and a small elf played by a girl about 6 years old. They were arguing over the fact that Christmas was almost here and the small elf had fired Rudolph, which of course was disastrous. From here, I'll just give you bullet points of the things we found to be NOT "The REAL Christmas Story":
1) The adult and child actor were arguing, during which the adult turned to face the audience and the child mocked her behind her back for several minutes, even making inappropriate gestures. The Bible does not teach children to disrespect adults and authority this way.
2) When the adult asked the child why she had fired Rudolph, one of the reasons that she guessed included a sexual innuendo: "Was Rudolph doing inappropriate things with Vixen and Cupid again?"
3) The entire first half of the show was a musical montage of 100% secular Christmas songs that included "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus." Yes, I know it's mom kissing dad, but the child singing the song misunderstands this to be witnessing adultery :/
4) The whole thing was FLASHY to the max; sensory overload. Santa and Mrs. Claus circulating the audience.
We stayed this long hoping that at any moment someone was going to draw a sharp contrast and say, "this isn't real Christmas at ALL!! Let's see how far off the mark this is..." But they didn't. Then came the final straw for us:
5) Included in the montage was "Grandma got run over by a reindeer." This is a HORRENDOUS song that talks about Grandma getting drunk on too much eggnog and then being in a hit and run, in which she is killed. Personally I've always hated this song, but was shocked that it was included here at a "Christian" theater. The way they performed it: a group of "hillbillies" came out onto the stage in a melodramatic parade, lead by "grandpa" carrying a grotesque dummy that was supposed to be the dead body of "grandma," freshly run over. My daughter described it as "really creepy." Then: CENTER STAGE was a woman with a 7 FOOT YELLOW PYTHON (a real one) AROUND HER NECK.
WE GOT UP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SHOW AND LEFT.
It's pretty common knowledge that a snake is LITERALLY symbolic of Satan in the Bible, straight from the Garden of Eden. Even folks who aren't Christian usually know that.
So at a "Christian" theater, in a show called "The REAL Christmas," you're going to parade a GIANT LIVE SNAKE CENTER STAGE??? I'm out.
We went into the lobby and there was just one employee at the ticket counter because it was not yet intermission. We respectfully told her how incredibly offended we were and why. We told her about the contrast we were HOPING for. Her response: "Well, in all the years this show has been running, no one has ever complained about that. Everybody always loves this show. We are showing Christmas Tradition in the first half and the second half is the Jesus story. You should stay for the second half of the show and you'll see it." She indicated that their opinion was that both the "Christmas traditions" and Christ were of equal importance.
My husband and I took our children aside and talked with them about the situation. They completely understood, supported our decision, and were happy to leave. "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" Joshua 24:15. It was a really important teachable moment for us to show our kids what it looks like to stand up for God when the rest of the world is going the other way. read more
