The List: The Best Little Christmas Pageant … Ever! brings East-Coast laughs back for the holidays

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The Best Little Newfoundland Christmas Pageant … Ever! is a truly Canadian holida treat.

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Returning after a dozen years of entertaining Newfoundlanders who can’t make home for the holidays, this was the inaugural show from Whizgiggling Productions, named after the Newfie term for acting silly and foolish.

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When the usual leader of the Christmas pageant hits a moose, Mrs. O’Brien is put in charge of the annual holiday production. With a well-known premise and regular actors, it should be a straightforward affair, but this Christmas and its treasured production don’t go as planned.

Most recently, Whizgiggling Productions brought Destination Vegas to the 2022 Edmonton Fringe Festival and the show, directed by Trevor Schmist, received a five-star review from the Edmonton Journal.

In cooperation with Spirit of Newfoundland Productions, The Best Little Newfoundland Christmas Pageant … Ever! was written by Barbara Robinson with a stage adaptation by Petrina Bromley and Aiden Flynn. Full of East-Coast humour, the show is billed as a family affair, and due to popular demand, there will be four shows at The Backstage Theatre (10330 84 Ave.) this weekend — Dec. 16 and 17 at 7:30 p.m. and Dec. 17 and 18 at 2 p.m. Tickets start at $12 for kids under 12, $26 for students and seniors and $30 for adults from Whizgiggling.com.

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ART

Thru 12/17: Zhiying Zheng (Peaches); Yilu Xing (FAB)

Thru 4/16: Dean Drever: Pass the Hat (AGA)

12/17-23/2/1: group exhibition (Peter Robertson)

Thru 12/17: Gabriel Esteban Molina: Memory Palace (Latitude 53)

Thru 12/31: Scents of Movement, Scents of Place (AGA)

Thru 12/31: Fish Griwkowsky: Credo Shoots First (Credo on 104)

Thru 23/1/14: Give Me Tomorrow (Mitchell Art Gallery)

Thru 23/1/14: Heather Shillinglaw: miyotamon nananis (Strathcona County Hall)

Thru 23/1/19: Mosaic (AGA)

23/1/17-2/10: Jill Miller; Alcuin Society Awards (FAB)

Thru 23/1/29: Riaz Mehmood: Ghazal—Songs for Home; Road Trip (AGA)

23/2/2: Maigan van der Giessen (Aviary)

23/2/21-3/18: Know Thyself as a Virtual Reality (FAB)

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Thru 23/2/26: Conjured Images: Spirit Photography; BEHOLD|EN (AGA)

23/3/28-4/8: BDes Graduation Show (FAB)

Thru 23/3/31: Ancestors (Bruce Peel Special Collections)

23/4/18-29: BFA Graduation Show (FAB)

23/6/16-6/10: KIAS 15th Anniversary (FAB)

Thru 23/11/26: ᐋᐧᐸᑲᐧᓃᐊᐧᐣ Wâpakwanîwin (To bloom, it has many flowers) (AGA)

Thru 24/12/31: Damian Moppett (AGA)

BOOKS

23/4/11: Elizabeth Gilbert (Winspear)

COMEDY

12/15-18: Sean Donnelly (Comic Strip)

12/16-18: Girl Brain! (Roxy)

12/16-17: Todd Ness, Mike Lynch (Yuk Yuk’s)

12/21: Danny Martinello (Station)

12/22-23: Danny Martinello (Comic Strip)

23/1/13-14: Jim Gaffigan (Winspear)

23/1/19-21: K Trevor Wilson (Comic Strip)

23/1/31: Brian Regan (Winspear)

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23/4/11: Kevin Hart (Rogers)

23/5/20: Gerry Dee (Winspear)

EXHIBITIONS

Thru 12/31: Luminaria: A Winter Garden Story (U of A Botanic Garden)

12/1-23/1/1: GLOW (Edmonton Expo Centre)

Thru 23/4/10 Out of the Depths: The Blue Whale Story (Telus World of Science)

FESTIVALS

12/27-28: Get Together (Edmonton Expo Centre)

23/1/21-22: Deep Freeze (Alberta Avenue)

23/1/23-29: WinterruptionYEG (various venues)

23/1/24-29: Ice On Whyte (Dr. Wilbert McIntyre Park)

23/2/1-4: Flying Canoe Volant Festival (various venues)

23/2/10-20: Silver Skate (Hawrelak)

23/2/10-27: Canadian Birkie Ski Festival (Ukrainian Village)

23/2/25: Afro x Latin Festival (Starlite)

23/3/2-12: SkirtsAfire (various Old Strathcona venues)

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23/3/13: The 2023 JUNO Awards (Rogers Place)

MUSIC

12/15: The Buckleys (Station)

12/16: The Funk Hunters: Funk the Halls (Union Hall)

12/16: Scenic Route to Alaska (Aviary)

12/16: 15 Pounds of Beets (Starlite)

12/16-18: ESO’s A Very Merry Pops (Winspear)

12/17: The Don Berner Big Band: A Vary Count Basie Christmas (Ottewell United)

12/17: Crankdat (Union Hall)

12/17: Jung People, Pigeon Breeders (Aviary)

12/17: Vargouille (Blakbar)

12/17: Junior Boys (Starlite)

12/18: Kane Brown (Rogers Place)

12/18: Jay Gilday (On the Rocks)

12/19: Twain Gretzky Overdrive (9910)

12/22: The Franklins, Real Sickies (9910)

12/22: ESO’s A Lightly Classical Christmas (Winspear)

12/22: Ray Volpe, Soltan (Union Hall)

12/23: Pete Turland (Newcastle Pub)

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12/23: Ryan Shepherd (Chvrch of John)

12/26: Tzadeka, Cutoffs (Ritchie Community League)

12/27-28: Excision, Above & Beyond (Edmonton Expo Centre)

12/28-29: ESO Hollywood for the Holidays (Winspear)

12/29: Major Love, Marlaena Moore (Aviary)

12/30: Skiitour (Station)

12/31: Big Sugar (River Cree)

12/31: Merkules (Union Hall)

23/1/2: Salute to Vienna (Winspear)

23/1/6: Maxwell Quartet, Stewart Goodyear (Robertson-Wesley)

23/1/6: Teacup Romance,

23/1/7: Joshua Hyslop (Aviary)

23/1/9: The Dead South (Jubilee)

23/1/12: Counted Among Saints (Starlite)

23/1/14: Ellen Doty (Arden)

23/1/14: Cikwes (Aviary)

23/1/17: Junior Boys (Starlite)

23/1/17: Gordie Tentrees Trio (Arden)

23/1/19, 21: ESO’s Brahm’s First Piano Concerto (Winspear)

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23/1/20: ESO’s Tchaikovsky & Shakespeare (Winspear)

23/1/21: John Wort Hannam (Parkview Community)

23/1/21: Hacked Apart (Starlite)

23/1/21: Marauda (Union Hall)

23/1/24: Garneau String Quartet, Philip Chiu (Muttart Hall)

23/1/25: Beppie (City Arts Space, St. Albert)

23/1/25: Tony Yayo (Starlite)

23/1/26: Streetheart (River Cree)

23/1/26: Tenille Townes (Winspear)

23/1/27: Kat Danser and the Tall Tales (St. Basil’s)

23/1/27: Graffiti (Winspear)

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23/1/28: Pierre Kwenders (9910)

23/1/28: Open Eyes, Lacorator (Aviary)

23/1/29: Aaron Goodvin, Hailey Benedict (Arden)

23/1/29: ESO’s Heavenly Mozart (Winspear)

23/2/2,4: Michael Kaeshammer (Winspear)

23/2/3: Lights (Midway)

23/2/8: Bruce Cockburn (Winspear)

23/2/10: Diyet and the Love Soldiers (St. Basil’s)

23/2/10: Gord Bamford (River Cree)

23/2/10: Kid Koala (Starlite)

23/2/11: Cassie and Maggie w/ John Hewitt (Parkview Community)

23/2/11: Thomas Rhett (Rogers Place)

23/2/11: Spring w/ Copland & Schumann (Winspear)

23/2/12: EdMetro Chamber Choir: Happy Together… Men make Music (Trinity Lutheran)

23/2/15: Dune Rats (Starlite)

23/2/17: Lúnasa (Arden)

23/2/18: Alternative Symphony: Dr. Dre (Starlite)

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23/2/18: Beethoven Lives Upstairs (Winspear)

23/2/18: Sickick (Union Hall)

23/2/22: Mad Caddies (Starlite)

23/2/23-25: Elgar w/ Brett Mitchell (Winspear)

23/2/24: Alex Cuba (Arden)

23/2/24: Dub FX (Starlite)

23/2/24: Rosier (St. Basil’s)

23/2/25: The Don Berner Big Band, Lina Allemano (Ottewell United)

23/2/25: Mod Sun (Union Hall)

23/2/25: Old Man Luedecke (Parkview Community)

23/2/25: Honeymoon Suite and Headpins (River Cree)

23/2/26: Loud Tournée Aucun (Temple)

23/2/26: Loud (Starlite)

23/2/26: Tenille Townes (WInspear)

23/2/27: Papa Roach (EEC)

23/2/27-28: Vance Joy (Winspear)

23/3/2: Wayne Newton (River Cree)

23/3/3: Field Guide (Aviary)

23/3/3: 54-40 (Midway)

23/3/3: Rare Americans (Starlite)

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23/3/3: Simon Doty (Chvrch of John)

23/3/3-4: Organ Symphony of Saint-Saëns (Winspear)

23/3/4: The Flatliners (Starlite)

23/3/7: Born of Osiris (Starlite)

23/3/8: Quicksilver Baroque Ensemble (Westend Christian Reformed)

23/3/9-11: The Power of the Orchestra (Winspear)

23/3/10: JP Cormier and Dave Gunning (Arden)

23/3/10: Alvvays (Midway)

23/3/10: Kacy & Clayton (St. Basil’s)

23/3/10: Martin Kerr (Union Hall)

23/3/11: Sloan (Station)

23/3/11: Women of Folkways (Parkview Community)

23/3/11: Andy Shauf (Winspear)

23/3/16-18: Shostakovich (Winspear)

23/3/17: Kyle Watson (Chvrch of John)

23/3/21: Songs from Nashville (Winspear)

23/3/22: The Valencia Baryton Project (Westend Christian Reformed)

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23/3/24: The Slocan Ramblers (Arden)

23/3/24: DVSN: (Union Hall)

23/3/24: Ben Sures; Over the Moon (St. Basil’s)

23/3/24-25: Bugs Bunny at the Symphony (Winspear)

23/3/25: The Travelling Mabels (Parkview Community)

23/3/27: Edmonton Metropolitan Chorus: Allan Bevan’s Nou Goth (Winspear)

23/4/2: The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (Jubilee)

23/4/2: Koo Koo Kanga Roo (Starlite)

23/4/4: July Talk (Winspear)

23/4/4: Sonreal (Union Hall)

23/4/6: Samantha Carpenter (Union Hall)

23/4/8: Bentall Taylor Ulrich (Parkview Community)

23/4/8: Suzie Vinnick, Lloyd Spiegel and Charlie A’Court (Arden)

23/4/11: Garneau String Quartet, Rosebud String Quartet (Muttart Hall)

23/4/14: Mom Jeans, Bearings (Union Hall)

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23/4/14: John Reischman and the Jaybirds (St. Basil’s)

23/4/15-16: Thrill of a Lifetime (Winspear)

23/4/20: Love is a Battlefield (Winspear)

23/4/21-22: The Mambo Kings (Winspear)

23/4/26: The Interrupters, Frank Turner (MacEwan Hall)

23/4/28-29: Sara Daravis Buechner plays Rachmaninoff (Winspear)

23/5/4: George Thorogood (River Cree)

23/5/4-6: Beethoven & Joy (Winspear)

23/5/5-6: Shania Twain (Rogers Place)

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23/5/8: Chris de Burgh (Jubilee)

23/5/11: The Stampeders (Winspear)

23/5/13: Charlot & Mlle Cello (Winspear)

23/5/14: EdMetro Chamber Choir: Broadway Our Way (Strathearn United)

23/5/19: Dark Patterns (Winspear)

23/5/27: The Don Berner Big Band: The Music of the Super Heroes (Ottewell United)

23/6/2-4: Great Hollywood Adventures (Winspear)

23/6/3: Luke Combs, Riley Green (Commonwealth)

23/6/5: Garneau String Quartet, Roman Rabinovich, Diana Cohen (Muttart Hall)

23/6/9-11: Tchaikovsky & Brunch (Winspear)

23/6/11: Edmonton Metropolitan Chorus: Ibero-Americano (First Presbyterian)

23/6/14: Thorgy and the Thorchestra II: The Regal Sequal (Winspear)

23/6/18: Raffi (Jubilee)

23/6/18: Murray MacLauchlan, Cindy Church, Marc Jordan and Ian Thomas (Winspear)

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23/6/29: Blink 182 (Rogers)

23/8/15: Rod Stewart (Rogers)

23/11/12: Shania Twain (Rogers)

23/10/31: Ne Obliviscaris (Starlite)

THEATRE/DANCE

Thru 12/23: A Christmas Carol (Citadel)

12/15-17: Ballet Edmonton’s Be Merry (Varscona)

12/16-17: Moi: Momentum of Isolation w/ Shay Kuebler (Timms Centre)

12/16-18: Girl Brain (Roxy)

12/18: House of Hush Burlesque: YEG-Tide Tease (Station)

12/20-30: Die Harsh: A Christmas Musical (Grindstone)

12/31: Cirque de la Lune (Starlite)

23/1/3-8: Fiddler on the Roof (Jubilee)

23/1/5-7: Uptown Girls (Citadel)

23/1/10-22: Freaky Green Eyes (Backstage)

23/1/21-2/5: Deafy (Citadel)

23/2/4: Ivo Dimchev: Selfie Concert (MZD Society)

23/2/4-19: The Royale (Citadel)

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23/2/9: A Dinosaur Tale (Arden)

23/2/11-3/12: Jersey Boys (Citadel)

23/2/17-3/5: The Exquisite Hour and Love is for Poor People (Varscona)

23/2/21-26: Anastasia (Jubilee)

23/2/24-25: Creo (Triffo Theatre)

23/3/7-26: Joni Mitchell’s Songs of a Prairie Girl (Roxy)

23/3/11-4/2: Pride and Prejudice (Citadel)

23/3/16-18: Jen Mesch Dance Company (MZD Society)

23/3/23-4/16: Trouble In Mind (Citadel)

23/3/30-4/1: Going Solo (Citadel)

23/4/11-16: Pretty Woman: The Musical (Jubilee)

23/4/13-15: eryn tempest: Parallax (MZD Society)

23/4/22-5/14: First Métis Man of Odesa (Citadel)

23/4/25-5/14: Sexual Misconduct of the Middles Classes (Roxy)

23/5/5-6: Consentus (Triffo Theatre)

23/5/6-28: Prison Dancer (Citadel)

23/5/11-13: Shadow of a Doubt (MZD Society)

23/5/16-27: Boy Trouble (Backstage)

23/5/26-6/11: Listen, Listen (Varscona)

23/5/27: Magic Men — Australia (Starlite)

23/7/14-30: Everybody Goes to Mitzi’s (Varscona)

23/7/18-30: Reeling: Dance on Screen (MZD Society)

If you have events you’d like amplified, or have any corrections or updates, please email jfeniak@postmedia.com.