By Shannon Hicks

When it was time to start arranging committees and making plans for the 14th annual Newtown Holiday Festival this year, organizers decided to shake things up a little for one of the town’s largest annual events. Some of the changes being implemented for next month’s day-long event will be small; others are going to be much easier to spot.

Returning as 1999 festival co-organizers are Kim Connolly and Mary Harrington Tomasiewicz. The two hosted an official kick-off meeting for committee members on September 1. While planning for the festival is really a year-round event, the last 2½ months have seen concentrated efforts around the community.

The biggest change within the confines of the festival this year, which will be presented Sunday, December 5, from 11 am to 5 pm, is actually an addition. For the first time in the festival’s history, there will be a ballet performance. There will be two shows, actually, of — what else? — excerpts from The Nutcracker. The popular story of young Clara and the magical Nutcracker doll she receives from her godfather, Uncle Drosselmeier, and the adventures Clara dreams for her toy, will be brought to life in Newtown.

The Malenkee Ballet Repertoire Company of Newtown has been invited to present a pair of performances in conjunction with this year’s festival. The shows will be in the auditorium of Edmond Town Hall, beginning at 11 am and 1 pm. Admission to the ballet performances will be included with the price of a Holiday Festival ticket.

A Holiday Malenkee Nutcracker has been especially choreographed by artistic director Marsha Ismailoff Mark. The performances will include a narration by Uncle Drosselmeier, to be portrayed by Vincent Baglio, a Newtown resident. The narration has been written for the holiday festival and Mrs Mark’s dancers by Alessandra Fischetti of Monroe.

The ballet will begin with the grand entrance of Drosselmeier, who will be introduced with a flurry of dancing snowflakes. Drosselmeier, who has been in a deep sleep, will reflect on all the wonderful dream-like visions and toys he has created over the years.

The adaptation process has been an exciting and creative one for Mrs Fischetti, who has been working on her script since mid-March. Having Drosselmeier play the part of the narrator makes it easier for the youngest members of the festival’s audience to watch what is happening on stage and understand what it is they are seeing. The narrative will offer a different look — but not necessarily a changing of the Nutcracker story itself — for ballet lovers and fans of Tchaikovsky’s classic music alike.

“I’m very familiar with Nutcracker,” Mrs Fischetti said recently. “I’ve danced in nearly ten performances, in some form or another, and have performed the role of Drosselmeier, so I know what he’s all about.” To adapt the familiar ballet into a new version, then, did not require a large amount of research to be done by Mrs Fischetti in order to develop the character.

Marsha Mark offered Mrs Fischetti the opportunity to write new text for the character of Drosselmeier, with very few restrictions.

“She wanted Clara, Drosselmeier, the Nutcrackers, the mouse battle, ribbon candy, and the snowflakes all in there,” Mrs Fischetti said. “She wanted me to weave this together somehow with text, but she didn’t care how.” Having the character of Drosselmeier speak directly to the audience was an idea the ladies both agreed on from the beginning of the project.

Mrs Fischetti began work on the script on March 12. She remembers the day vividly because she had just returned from New York City, from a screenwriting seminar no less, and was presented with the challenge by Mrs Mark the day after she returned home.

 “It’s actually been exciting for me to work on this,” Mrs Fischetti said last week. Aside from some fine-tuning, which will come about as final rehearsals are held closer to the festival, the script for A Holiday Malenkee Nutcracker is finished.

“I’m sure there will be a change or two before the day of the festival, but I’m happy with what I came up with,” continued Mrs Fischetti. “It’s been actually exciting for me to write this. It was one of those stay up all night, and then you can’t wait to get back to it the next day kind of things.

“I think because we can only show excerpts, this really weaves the story together in a nice way. It still makes it into a story for the ballet company to present, and I think it works.”

The Holiday Festival includes tours of historic homes, a Victorian Tea Room and New England Café, the Festival of Trees, music and dance performances, crafts and antiques shows, children’s activities, and strolling musicians among its attractions each year.

All of these are returning this year, but the changes concern where some of them will be presented. Now more than ever, the Holiday Festival will become more of a Main Street event than a “Main Street and Queen Street” event, which is what it had been in years past when various offerings were at Newtown Middle School.

The Festival of Trees will be at Trinity Church this year (advance word from Festival of Trees chairman Jill Bontatibus-Beaudry indicates the collection of trees and other holiday-decorated works will be larger than ever). The crafts show will move from the gymnasium at Newtown Middle School to the community room of C.H. Booth Library. It will be extended into the library’s old board room if required.

Also new is the structure of the children’s activities. In the past, Newtown Middle School has been the site for an afternoon-long workshop for children. This year festival organizers are going to instead present the workshop as a family-oriented offering, and it will be moved to the community room of Newtown Congregational Church House, at 41-A Main Street.

Children will be able to sit with their parent or adult guardian and work on a craft or two as a team.

In addition to being a townwide, family-oriented event, the Holiday Festival is also a major fund-raiser for Family Counseling Center, Inc., of Newtown. Proceeds from the festival’s ticket sales help the non-profit, United Way-supported mental health agency continue to offer affordable counseling services to the residents of Newtown and the surrounding area.

Advance tickets for the 14th annual Newtown Holiday Festival are $12 for adults, $8 for seniors and children. Tickets can be purchased until December 4 at their pre-Festival prices at the following locations: Drug Center, 61 Church Hill Road; Family Counseling Center, 121 Mt Pleasant Road; C.H. Booth Library, 25 Main Street; and the branches of Newtown Savings Bank in Newtown (both the Main Street and Sand Hill Plaza locations), Bethel, Monroe and Southbury.

On Sunday, December 5, adult tickets will be $15 each (senior and children’s tickets will remain at $8). Tickets will be available the day of the festival at C.H. Booth Library and Edmond Town Hall. For additional information, contact Family Counseling Center at 426-8103.

A festival ticket will be necessary for entry to the all festival-related events. However, some of the events are also open for a small fee without needing a full festival ticket. The crafts show is open to the public free of charge (with or without a ticket). The antiques show is $3 at the door for anyone without a full festival ticket. Either performance of Malenkee Nutcracker may also be attended for a $3 admission at the door.