COMMUNITY CUSTOMS During holidays in the region, entertainment traditions abound

By DEBORA SHAULIS
ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
HEN BILL DUNLAP WAS growing up in Youngstown, the annual football game between South and Rayen high schools was always on Thanksgiving Day, and Vindicator columnist Esther Hamilton's "Alias Santa Claus" variety shows were a Christmas season staple.
"You always wanted to get there," Dunlap recalls.
Times change, as do traditions. Once the "Alias Santa Claus" shows ended after a decades-long run, St. Vincent de Paul Society started its own variety show. The society's goal was similar to Hamilton's -- to raise funds for a charitable cause.
With the 18th annual event occurring this weekend, St. Vincent de Paul's show is the granddaddy of the area's annual entertainment traditions. Dunlap, who is president of the St. Vincent de Paul council in Mahoning and Columbiana counties, says the public's appreciation of the familiar around the holidays helps to make this the society's largest fund-raiser of the year.
"We like to keep the people, keep it in their minds who we are and what we do," Dunlap said. The Catholic-based group serves hot meals in its kitchen on Front Street, runs a thrift store at Wick and Rayen avenues and provides food and clothing to people in need.
In one way or another, entertainment traditions tend to build and strengthen a sense of community.
Taking pride
Great Lakes Festival Ballet board vice-president John P. Guarnieri of Warren is proud of the local participants in "The Nutcracker," which will be performed for the 16th year at W.D. Packard Music Hall.
"This is a Mahoning Valley product," Guarnieri said. "The majority of people who are part of this are from the area."
It's educational, too, because it's one of the first ballet experiences for thousands of schoolchildren who attend weekday matinee performances, Guarnieri noted.
Easy Street Productions has come a long way from its first effort at seasonal entertaining 15 years ago. Back then, co-founder Todd Hancock recalled, Easy Street players were performing in the musical "Pump Boys and Dinettes" in the Uptown Theater on Market Street. "We just Christmas-ized 'Pump Boys'" with a tree and some stockings, he said.
This year, nearly 100 people have roles in the "Miracle on Easy Street" musical at Edward W. Powers Auditorium.
"There was a niche there for this show. There still is," Hancock said, comparing "Miracle" to variety programs such as the one at Radio City Music Hall in New York and contrasting it with another Christmas chestnut, "A Christmas Carol."
Easy Street tries to schedule its performances during the weekend before Christmas. By then, "It's a welcome thing," Hancock said. "People have their shopping done, or their families have arrived. It's a relaxing feeling ... the hectic part of the holidays is over by then."
Making changes
Traditions also change as generations initiate customs of their own.
Monday will be only the fourth occasion of the "Christmas in the City" concert to benefit Youngstown city parochial schools. The pops program features Youngstown Symphony Orchestra and choral groups from those schools.
"The symphony is our own, so that surely says community," said Scott Schulick of the concert's organizing committee.
Establishing tradition was on the mind of then-Youngstown Diocesan Schools Superintendent Nicholas Wolsonovich when the idea was developed in 1999, Schulick said.
Even the name of the concert was derived from lyrics of a traditional Christmas song, "Silver Bells": "It's Christmas time in the city."
Friday will be only the second time that Daniel Meyer will conduct Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's "Holiday Pops" concert in Scottish Rite Cathedral in New Castle, Pa.
"Our audiences are expecting a certain amount of familiarity," said Meyer, who is the symphony's assistant conductor and music director of Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra. They want "music they know, that reminds them of the past."
Keeping it fresh
Still, tradition doesn't have to be stale.
The Pittsburgh Pops program will differ from last year's concert, Meyer said. Highlights will include the western Pennsylvania premiere of a holiday "Gloria" arrangement by Randall Allan Bass and the world premiere of a traditional holiday sing-along arrangement by Pittsburgh Symphony resident conductor Lucas Richman.
Holiday music "can be very difficult or very simple. This particular program runs the gamut," Meyer said. "I wanted scores that bring out the sparkle and virtuosic elements of the orchestra." The "Silent Night" arrangement that will be performed at evening's end is more simple and "features a nice warm arrangement for strings," he added.
Grove City College Choir of Grove City, Pa. again will perform with the orchestra, but some students will sing solos this time, Meyer said.
The St. Vincent de Paul show features a different headliner each year. On Saturday, it'll be Noel V. Ginnity, an entertainer Dunlap saw in a dinner theater in Ireland. A Frank Sinatra-style vocalist and a comedian led the show in recent years, Dunlap said.
Guarnieri not only serves on Great Lakes Festival Ballet's board, he appears in the opening scene of "The Nutcracker" as a butler. He's done so under the leadership of three artistic directors, dating back to when the dance organization was known as Ballet Theatre Ohio. He's seen the nuances of each production in terms of choreography and costumes.
Current director Richard Dickinson has added grandparents and children to Act One, arranged this year for new costumes and a new backdrop to be used during Act Two and hired a professional dancer in the role of Clara, Guarnieri said. As always, music will be by Warren Philharmonic Orchestra.
This "Christmas in the City" concert will feature guest conductor and clarinetist Carl Topilow, who leads Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra and Cleveland Pops Orchestras. Also performing will be Joe Augustine Trio, featuring jazz pianist Augustine of Warren.
Staying close to formula
Easy Street also tweaks its show from year to year, but gently.
"It's a formula that we came up with and stick to," Hancock said. "It's always a Christmas concert. ... We always have marching toy solders. [Co-founder Maureen Collins] always does a Christmas sing-along.
"With Christmas, people want traditions. It's a sense of security, something they do that they can relate to childhood. They want things to be the same around Christmas, especially if you had a happy childhood. You look for things that remind you of that."
As for their favorite holiday traditions, Guarnieri and Hancock said it's buying and putting up a live Christmas tree. "There's something about picking it out, the smell of the house. ... That's what really pushes me over the edge," Hancock said.
"To me now, it's just the chance to be home with all my family," said Meyer, who's originally from Cleveland.
Schulick said his family sets aside one day to attend a concert or play together.
Dunlap, a people watcher, is always among the Christmas Eve shoppers. "I go out just to go through the crowd and maybe pick up a few items for the [grandchildren] ... just to see how people act."
shaulis@vindy.com