All is Calm

Kristi gave us tickets for last nights performance of All is Calm for our Christmas present.  It was a beautiful way to start the Christmas holidays.  All is Calm is an uplifting musical drama about the surprising 1914 World War I Christmas Truce which began on Christmas Eve. A nine member male choir together with 3 narrators create a beautiful production they refer to as musical radio theater (I suppose because there are no sets).  Using the diary entries of soldiers and beautiful arrangements of Christmas favorites, All is Calm tells both sides of the story, as men who had been trying to kill each other in the fields of France, spontaneously put down their guns, walked across no-man's land, and sang together.

While the show was very beautiful I think it was even more poignant for us as we had just learned about this Christmas Truce when we toured the World War I Memorial and Museum this fall.  There are even pictures of German and English soldiers celebrating Christmas together during this one and only Christmas Truce.