This report on a successful Christmas concert by the Warwick Academy Lower Primary Department has been written by Hannah Marshall

The assembly hall was filled with excited parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. Smiles and waving erupted between the audience and the students as the children were led onstage by their teachers. The lights dimmed and the music began. Video cameras in hand, friends and family were on the edge of their seats as they enjoyed the students’ adorable singing and dancing.

The show began with each year group performing two Christmas carols each. The second part of the concert consisted of a variety of children’s Christmas songs incorporated into the musical storyline of the traditional Russian folktale, ‘Babushka’.

Babushka was an old woman who was obsessing over the cleanliness of her house when three wise men knocked at her door. Learning that the men were following a star to find a baby king and had brought gifts for him, Babushka agreed to let them stop for a rest, but she insisted they first wipe their feet. She scolded the kings’ camels for having hooves which were much too dirty for her house, frightening the camels away. The kings chased after them, dirt still on their feet. Babushka felt bad for scaring the camels away and decided to follow the kings and bring her own gifts to the newborn child. As her journey unfolded, she gave many of her gifts to those less fortunate. By the end of her journey she realised that she had given away all of the gifts she had brought for the holy child. When Babushka stumbled upon an old stable, she found that each person that she had helped had, in turn, left her gifts for the holy child. The message of the concert was “Everything that you give, you give to Christ”.

‘Babushka’, the musical by Ruth Kenward, is based on the story book as retold by Sandra Ann Horn. A sampling of the songs performed by the primary students included, ‘The Russian Village Dance’, ‘Wipe Your Feet’, ‘Babushka Empty Heart’, ‘There’s a Stable’, ‘Everything You Give’, and ‘My Feet Want to Dance’. Musical director David Bishop decided that the students would perform the narrative version of the musical stating: “I thought our Lower Primary children, average age of five to seven, could do a really impressive job of delivering the story.”

Mr Bishop was proved correct as four enthusiastic students — Ava O’Connor, Sofia Amaral, Pipa Charleson, and Jack Kyme — expertly narrated the performance.

Milhan Powell, who played Babushka, and Imara Richardson, who played the angel, both sang solos and were clearly talented singers. Other notable characters were played by Jolie Davis, Jean-Luc Guiteau, Edward Perinchief-Ingham, Max Reid, David McDonald, Zachary Da Silva, and Eva Kelly. The Year Three students played villagers and the Year Two students held supporting roles as the cattle in the stable. The youngest children portrayed stars and angels.

The festive costumes were designed by Mr Bishop, classroom teachers, and students’ parents. The costumes were creative and accurately depicted characters from the Nativity, helping to set the scene for the performance and adding to the charm to the concert.