Artslandia at the Performance: Portland Playhouse Nov/Dec 2014

FEATURE YOU KNOW YOU’RE IN PORTLAND DURING THE HOLIDAYS WHEN... By Katrina Staaf. Illustrations by David Deide. Since 1940, an illuminated outline of Oregon that now reads “Portland Oregon Old Town” has towered proudly above the west end of the Burnside Bridge. Perhaps our most iconic landmark, the neon installation was an advertisement for White Satin Sugar before it was changed to promote White Stag Sportswear in 1959. With its new purpose came the addition of a deer’s silhouette, which got a red nose in time for Christmas of that year. The sign has changed ownership and lettering numerous times throughout the past two decades, but a white stag continues to prance atop it. Despite adversity, the deer has never ceased to resemble Rudolph during the winter holiday season. In 2009, when the sign lacked an owner and risked being dismantled, the president of Ramsay Signs paid to keep it lit. Celebrate civic triumph by watching this tradition unfold on the night of Nov. 28. The Cinnamon Bear, known as Paddy O’Cinnamon, is a cult ﬁgure who achieved fame in 1937 as the eponymous star of a children’s holiday radio program. Though it began as a national broadcast and continues to air around the world, the program has always been particularly popular in Portland. A tangible Cinnamon Bear has appeared year after year at malls and in parades since his debut on local airwaves, often outshining Santa. In 2009, the legend of Cinnamon Bear inspired Portland Spirit to create a family cruise in his honor. The boat ride on the Willamette is a mystical world of costumed characters and holiday activities. A literary adaptation of the Cinnamon Bear story — The Cinnamon Bear in the Adventure of Silver Star — was released in 2007, ensuring its preservation for future generations. Still, the radio program lives on and is probably the hippest way to get familiar with this enduring symbol of Portland’s weirdness. Portland’s Singing Christmas Tree, now 52 years old, gives the most basic feature of Paciﬁc Northwestern scenery — the evergreen — a voice. Instead of boughs, the treelike pyramid contains more than 150 singers from various churches and schools. About 200 additional vocalists surround its base to complete Oregon’s largest choir. The mass of voices tackles a diverse repertoire, moving swiftly from traditional carols to contemporary fare and back again. With the help of elaborate lighting, an orchestra and a storyline, the singing tree is the centerpiece of endearingly over-the-top performances. Thus, its humble, singular beginnings on a high school stage can be difficult to fathom. However, even after its recent move from the Keller Auditorium to the New Hope Auditorium in Portland, one can sense a resonance of the quaint and kitschy charm that has allowed Portland’s Singing Christmas Tree to become such a perseverant touchstone of the local holiday experience. Boxing Day goes for baroque. The day after Christmas can be characterized by a saddening lull, but with an opportunity to celebrate the Baroque legend that is Bach comes guaranteed fun: Classical Revolution PDX, an anti-elitist group of musicians dedicated to making their chosen genre as accessible and exciting as possible, has spent eight years transforming Dec. 26 into Bachxing Day. The event takes place in a different location each year, though always in a casual place where one would not typically encounter classical music. Only three principles determine its content — any Bach, any instrumentation and any interpretation. As a result of such vague guidelines, audience requests are encouraged and improvisation abounds. If the idea of having control over what you hea

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