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Easy Street adds new touches to the traditions of ‘Miracle’

After 28 years, one would think Easy Street Productions had exhausted the supply of holiday songs to perform for “Miracle on Easy Street.”

But Easy Street co-founder Todd Hancock said five new songs have been added for the production opening Dec. 16 at Powers Auditorium.

Hancock will be doing “Snow Miser” from the 1974 television special “A Year Without Santa Claus” while the McClellans — brothers Eric and James McClellan and their sister, Janeen Williams — will do the arrangement of “Little Drummer Boy”/ “Peace on Earth” popularized by David Bowie and Bing Crosby.

“We want to give something new for the people who come back year after year after year,” Hancock said.

Trying to find a balance between adding new musical numbers and maintaining the old favorites isn’t easy.

“There’s a certain stable of songs people want to hear every year,” he said. “It’s hard to knock one of those out for a new one that won’t stand the test of time, you know they won’t. I try to walk that fine line between keeping it very traditional but keeping it fresh.”

There are certain numbers that audiences expect, but they are not the only ones Hancock has to satisfy. He cited “Need a Little Christmas” as an example. It’s been a part of the show since its inception. And when the Little Rascals (the children who participate in Easy Street’s theater workshop) became a part of the production, it became their opening song.

“This year I wanted to add back ‘Most Wonderful Time of the Year’ and take that out,” Hancock said. “I thought the older kids, who are 12, 13 years old and have done it every year, would be relieved. I couldn’t believe all of them, unanimously, voted me down. They didn’t want to take that song out — ‘This is my last year to do Miracle and we’re taking that out?’ Even the little cast members, it’s a tradition for them. They couldn’t think of doing it without that number.”

Hancock has learned “never say never” when it comes to what songs make the cut every year. For years he was resistant to “I Wanna Hippopotamus for Christmas” despite people suggesting it every year.

“I always thought it was so annoying,” he said. “But when we added the mini Rascals, who are 4 and 5 years old, well here’s the perfect song for them.”

Those Little Rascals have become a big part of filling the stage every year at Powers Auditorium. Two troupes of 48 rascals will split the four public performers, joining about 60 dancers and singers for the holiday show. Hancock said about 100 performers will be on stage and more than 150 are involved overall.

Hancock said that new group of children each year keeps the production fresh and the veterans invigorated.

“It’s a blast to do. It’s our own thing. We created it. It’s constantly transforming year after year, but it boils down to getting back together with this core group of Easy Street friends and these little kids … When the curtain goes up and the lights go on, it’s the first thing that put me in the Christmas mood every year.”

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