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The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (1983) (TV)
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Overview
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Awards:
Nominated for Primetime Emmy.
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NewsDesk:
Lakewood Theatre Company Presents The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, 12/16-23
(From BroadwayWorld.com. 24 November 2009, 5:45 PM, PST)
(From BroadwayWorld.com. 24 November 2009, 5:45 PM, PST)
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Christmas pageant classic
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Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| Loretta Swit | ... | Grace Bradley | |
| Jackson Davies | ... | Bob Bradley | |
| Anthony Holland | ... | Rev. Hopkins | |
| David Alexander | ... | Charlie Bradley | |
| Warren Givens | ... | Charlie Bradley | |
| Fairuza Balk | ... | Beth Bradley | |
| Natalie Troutt | ... | Beth Bradley | |
| Ocean Hellman | ... | Alice Wendlekin | |
| Sally Durr | ... | Helen Armstrong | |
| Janet Wright | ... | Helen Armstrong | |
| Teri Dean | ... | Gladys Herdman | |
| Lydia Jarjoura | ... | Gladys Herdman | |
| Trent Dixon | ... | Claude Herdman | |
| Beau Heaton | ... | Claude Herdman | |
| Anne Hertl | ... | Imogene Herdman |
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48 min
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Imogene Herdman:
Somedy better be Herod!
Grace Bradley: Imogene, we're going to do this play the way it has always been done.
Imogene Herdman: [grabs Charlie by the collar] I know! Let Charlie be Herod. He tells the wise men to kill Jesus, and they say "okay" 'cause he's a king and all.
Ollie Herdman: But then they don't do it. They go back and get Herod...
[gesturing stabbing motions]
Ollie Herdman: "Take that, Herod! Take that!"
Charlie Bradley: I'm not going to be Herod!
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Grace Bradley: Imogene, we're going to do this play the way it has always been done.
Imogene Herdman: [grabs Charlie by the collar] I know! Let Charlie be Herod. He tells the wise men to kill Jesus, and they say "okay" 'cause he's a king and all.
Ollie Herdman: But then they don't do it. They go back and get Herod...
[gesturing stabbing motions]
Ollie Herdman: "Take that, Herod! Take that!"
Charlie Bradley: I'm not going to be Herod!
more
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Many people have been involved in a church Christmas pageant at one time or another, so there was bound to be a story like this. Take a typical middle-class family (the Bradleys) involved in a typical middle-class church Christmas pageant, a little uptight and steeped in tradition, and throw in some lower-class ruffian kids (the Herdmans) who take starring roles. This movie is a little different from the novel The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, but that should be okay, because Barbara Robinson wrote them both. It seems like the book did say that the narrator figured that the Herdmans were going to hell, while the movie has her say she figured they were going to the devil. I suppose "devil" was supposed to be less offensive than "hell," but I'd rather have the narrator say "hell" like in the novel. Loretta Swit from M*A*S*H plays the mother directing the pageant. You might think this would be an unlikely role for her, but she does a good job.