CUTLINE: There are beautiful Christmas carols galore in the Rented Christmas: The Musical, and delightful original music. (Photo by D’Arcy Patrick Egan)

BY D’ARCY PATRICK EGAN

Stacy Maple and Ethan Mandeville, bring to Port Clinton a very warm and special holiday treat on the Playmakers Civic Theatre Stage. (Photo by D’Arcy Patrick Egan)

Plans for a Merry Christmas may go awry in the Rented Christmas: The Musical at the Playmakers Civic, but that makes for a special holiday treat on the Playmakers Civic Theatre stage, which opens its 76th season on Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., with Sunday matinee at 2 p.m., on Dec. 9-11.

Directed by Nadine Jensen with Music Director Robert Bell, the musical by Norman C. Ahern Jr. and Yvonne Ahern will return on Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. on Dec. 16-17 and Sunday at 2 p.m. on Dec. 18. Tickets are $20, with seniors and students $15. Tickets can be purchased at pcplaymkers.org, Lilly & Gert’s new location in the Port Clinton Plaza or by calling for reservations at 419-734-5044.

“Rented Christmas: The Musical is a very heart-warming story of a successful businessman in the early 1900s, John Dale (Ethan Mandeville), in a personal quest for the Christmas Holiday that, despite his business success, he has been secretly longing for his entire personal life,” said Director Nadine Jensen. “A middle-aged bachelor, he turns to Anne Weston (Stacy Maple), the proprietor of a local rent shop, to make it all happen.”

For Dale, that means much more than decorating a Christmas tree and arranging for carolers to sing for family and friends. Dale wants a full-blown family Christmas, complete with a wife and family for the stodgy businessman, as well as a very Merry Christmas.

What could go awry?

Weston relies on the Actor’s Guild to enlist the many players for this Christmas holiday scenario. But when the young actors come down with the measles, Weston is forced to enlist the abrasive Mrs. Alice Lindsey and a gaggle of boys and girls from the local orphanage.

The end result is a lovely tale, beautiful Christmas carols and delightful original music to accent this holiday treat.

Nadine Jensen is Director, with Samantha Mayer, the Assistant Director. Matt Parker and Margaret Helbing are in charge of set construction and set painting. Robert Bell is Musical Director, and Linda Bell the rehearsal pianist.