“All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914” returns to Music Theater of Wenatchee

WENATCHEE – “All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914” will return to the Music Theater of Wenatchee this December. The musical tells the true story of soldiers laying down their weapons and spending Christmas with the enemy during World War I (WWI).

“It celebrates the bravery of these men who were not afraid to fight for their country, but also, at the same time, were not afraid to realize that the people that crossed the trenches from them were human beings as well,” said Director Henry Hettick.

On Christmas Eve of 1914, five months into WWI, an impromptu truce between soldiers fighting amid the trenches began with a Christmas carol sung by German soldiers. Thousands of soldiers left their trenches to greet their enemy, sharing rations, playing soccer, and singing Christmas songs in a demonstration of peace. However, the truce was short-lived, when higher command forced soldiers to return to their trenches and resume fighting.

“War is often at the instigation of people who are not going to fight it, and often for reasons that have nothing to do with the lives of those who fight it. And so I think that's an important message, and that you can love your enemy as well. I think that's a really important message right now, even in this country,” said Hettick.

The musical was created by Peter Rothstein, and originally performed at Theater Latté Da in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Rothstein dedicated himself to research before writing the musical, in order to balance accuracy, joy, and tragedy of the historic moment in “All is Calm.”

“I think he got the story right, because although it's a very heartwarming story, it's also an extremely tragic story, because this one incident that happened with so much hope is surrounded by awful death and destruction by humanity. And it didn't last,” said Music Director Dan Jackson.

The story is told through 37 a capella songs in 75 minutes. The songs are a mix of complex harmonies of both classic Christmas carols as well as songs of war.

“They've been arranged in ways that are truly unique. In the middle of the show, “Silent Night” is sung by the whole chorus, and it's sung in three different languages, French, German and English. It's also in, at various points, three different tempos…And it's overlapping…It's just an amazing, amazing bit of musical creation,” said Hettick. 

The immersive production projects photos from the war behind the men as they sing, and songs are interspersed with monologues of real letters home written by soldiers in the war.

“It's got moments that make you want to cry and whatnot, but you leave the theater feeling exhilarated by the bravery of these men, but also by a piece of theater that's moving,” said Hettick.

“All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914” will have both evening and matinee performances at the Riverside Playhouse in Wenatchee. Evening performances will be at 7:30 p.m., Dec. 5-7 and 12-14. Matinee performances will be at 2 p.m. Dec. 7-8 and 14-15. For more information and tickets, visit mtow.org.

“It's really cool that we have an organization like Music Theater [of Wenatchee] in town that has a facility and can be a vehicle for shows like this…We wouldn't be doing it I don't think if we didn't have Music Theater. It's a community treasure,” said Jackson.

Taylor Caldwell: 509-433-7276 or taylor@ward.media