UPDATED AUGUST 2021
Covid restrictions don’t need to put a stop to your 2021 Christmas performance
This article was originally created last November. Since then the Coronavirus situation has changed in various ways for all our worldwide customers. Some have seen situations improve, some have seen things get worse. But one thing is certain, it would be foolish for us to not anticipate any further Covid disruption for planned Christmas performances around the world during 2021. Nevertheless, we still believe that whether schools are open or not, with plenty of technological / video / streaming options available, and with Covid advice sheets included with all our publications, there’s no need to let Covid put a stop to your school’s Christmas performance.
While many of our competitors are stuck with publications that may be suitable for only one type of setting, we’re confident that most of our Christmas performances will suit almost ANY situation.
VIEW OUR FULL RANGE OF CHRISTMAS MUSICALS & NATIVITY PLAYS
What’s the difference? Some of our competitors have just one single script included with each of their publications, with no editing allowed. This means that it might only be suitable for small casts, or might only be suitable for one specific age-range, which can be very limiting. However, most of our publications are super-flexible with as many as five script variations included! And we always include fully editable scripts, so you can quickly make any changes you want to help adapt the script to suit your specific requirements.
- Small group shows? Or whole school performances? No problem.
- Big bubbles? Little bubbles? Easy-peasy.
- Singing? No singing? We’ve got you covered.
- Zoom? YouTube? Vimeo? Go for it! Order one of our Recording Licences and then record or stream to your heart’s content (conditions apply).
And with regularly updated ‘Covid advice sheets’ included with every publication, you have even more detailed suggestions for ways to make your performance as safe as possible.
So, rather than us sharing what we think you should do (because every school setting is completely different) here are several case-studies from customers who spoke to us last year about their planned approaches towards their 2020 Christmas performances:
Christmas Play In One Day – Literally! (Ages 5-11)
One school in Ireland decided that no matter what happened, they were going to leave everything until the last minute! The Principal told us that due to uncertainty over who might be unavailable on the day of the show, it made sense to do both the rehearsals – and the show – all on the same day, with whoever turned up that morning!
Once they’d made that decision, the idea to use ‘Christmas Play In One Day‘ which they had already purchased from us several years ago, was a straightforward choice. They then planned to rehearse in the morning and then live stream their performance in the afternoon, with each class broadcasting their song or script section from the safety of their own classroom.
Not all songs were to be sung – some were to be performed with sign language or dance routines instead. Meanwhile, the songs that were sung, were only to be performed by soloists or small groups, away from everyone else.
Other Learn2soar publications that might be used in a similar way include:
Our First Nativity – In First Place (Ages 2-5)
As usual, ‘Our First Nativity‘ was last year’s best-seller. One preschool manager who has used ‘Our First Nativity‘ every year for a whole decade, told us that their annual nativity play was an important seasonal tradition that they simply couldn’t abandon.
Therefore, their plan was to teach the children to perform the ‘Our First Nativity‘ songs, using actions, dance and musical instruments (instead of singing), whilst using the included new animated lyric videos as a backdrop. Meanwhile, the adults would read the narrated script out loud, with a few small speaking roles for several children.
She then planned to record the whole performance using a phone, before uploading the video to the preschool website on a password protected page.
Other Learn2soar publications that might be used in a similar way include:
Christmas Around The World – The Director’s Cut! (Ages 5-11)
A school in Manchester planned to stretch their performance of Christmas Around The World over a two week period!
Every class represented a different country with one ‘recording day’ each, where the whole class rehearsed their songs and spoken parts, and then performed and recorded their efforts – all on that one day. For safety, they planned to only record a few children singing at a time, with appropriate social distancing. Then they edited everything together at the end of the day, so it looked and sounded as if the whole class had been singing together.
Once every class had had their recording day over the two-week period, the whole show was edited together, before the whole video was uploaded to their school website (again on a password protected page).
Other Learn2soar publications that might be used in a similar way include:
The Right Shepherds – Zooming to Bethlehem! (Ages 7-11)
Several organisations that knew in advance that they would be completely closed during December (with remote / online learning only) asked us to recommend a nativity that could be rehearsed and staged completely via Zoom (or similar platform). And every time, without hesitation we recommended ‘The Right Shepherds‘. The amount of small little roles, the flexibility of the script and the fact that you only ever have a few characters on stage at any one time, makes it almost perfect for Zoom.
Other Learn2soar publications that might be used in a similar way include:
Help Is At Hand
And finally, if you’ve had a look through our Christmas Nativity Plays and you still can’t decide what would be best for your situation, why not send us an email specifying your requirements, and we’ll happily put together some suggestions for you.
Disclaimer
Learn2soar Music sells publications to more than 70 countries around the world, and what is allowed in one country, may not be allowed in another. Therefore, please follow your local laws, rules and guidelines, about any Covid restrictions that may apply to your use of any of our publications. Any such laws, rules or guidelines issued by your national or local government must take precedence over any advice, guidelines, or suggestions issued by Learn2soar Music.