Christmas 101: Adam Qutaishat’s “The Meaning of Christmas”
is a rapid-fire ride through our varied holiday traditions.
is a rapid-fire ride through our varied holiday traditions.
by Paul Kosidowski
Ah, Christmas. All the glorious traditions. Caroling, eggnog, “Oh, Tannenbaums,” and that horned devil who rides shotgun with Santa and swats children with birch rods. Wait….what?
Yes, that’s a thing. And it’s one of the many holiday traditions explained (at breakneck speed) in Milwaukee Opera Theatre’s “The Meaning of Christmas,” which premieres on December 2nd on the streaming service AÏRIS as part of the Decameron Opera Coalition’s online anthology, DOC the Halls.
The story of this mini-opera is simple: A Catholic woman is bringing her Muslim boyfriend to her mom’s house for their very first Christmas together. She has only the five-minute drive to get him up to yuletide speed. It’s Over the River and Through the Woods for the Fast and Furious generation. For the composer and lyricist Adam Qutaishat, the piece reflects his history of trying to figure out “The Meaning of Christmas.”
“My family was both Catholic and Muslim,” explains Qutaishat, “so I had a very complicated history with Christmas growing up. There was a lot of confusion, and we celebrated it as an American holiday rather than a religious holiday.”
Later, Qutaishat’s music career exposed him to lots of Christmas tales and traditions. “I did my student teaching as a choral director at a Catholic school, and I’ve arranged a lot of Christmas music over the years. I’ve been involved in that music and culture despite feeling a little like an outsider. I knew I wanted to write about that.”
So he and MOT Artistic Director Jill Anna Ponasik came up with a simple scenario. “What if someone didn’t “get” Christmas,” Qutaishat says. “And someone else had to explain it…very quickly.”
“A lot of the song comes from experience,” he says. He recalls gatherings in which friends talk about holiday rituals to mystified looks: “Someone in a group describes their American or religious Christmas traditions and everyone looks puzzled.”
For a song involving a rapid-fire monolog, Qutaishat was inspired by Stephen Sondheim’s, “Getting Married Today” from Company. Once MOT tapped Ashley Oviedo to play the girlfriend, Qutaishat didn’t hesitate to cram lots of words and references into the piece. “I didn’t hold back on anything.” The boyfriend is played by Mohammad ElBsat. And mom, who we hear intoning inspirational carols over the rapid patter, is played by Cecilia Davis. “That role is based on my mom,” says Qutaishat. “She likes taking care of people and having a meal with the family.” Of the couple, he says, “I know both of those people, and I sort of am both of those people.”
In MOT’s video, you’ll hear, but not see, the three performers. To dramatize the story, MOT tapped animator Eric Miranda to create visuals. Qutaishat was thrilled with that decision. “I’ve wanted to do animation ever since I took a cartooning class in 8th grade,” he says. “My very kind teacher told me ‘sweetie, it’s not for you,’ but I’ve always been looking for a way to get involved in animation or comics.”
“Eric’s way of drawing things was wonderfully evocative of what I was going for musically,” he adds. “It fit really, really well.”
“The Meaning of Christmas” is part of the third online presentation of the Decameron Opera Coalition, a group of nine independent opera companies that came together in 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic was making live performances impossible. The group is named after Giovanni Boccaccio’s 14th-century collection of stories, said to be told among 10 people stranded on a rooftop during the plague. DOC’s first presentation was Tales from a Safe Distance, which premiered in October of 2020. In the fall of 2021, the group aired Heroes, nine short operas exploring the theme of heroism. This is the first time the group has tackled a holiday theme.
Which gives Qutaishat a chance to explore his “conflicted” feelings about the holidays. “It’s a pretty cynical piece,” he says, “but at the end, when the characters stop trying to desperately change each other to fit the culture’s idea of Christmas, then it becomes a wonderful thing.”
“The corporate machine of Christmas is something the world could definitely do without,” he adds. “But having days that are meaningful to people, and a time that helps people think of ways to better the world, well, I think that’s great.”
DOC the Halls premieres online at 6:30 p.m. on December 2nd. Order tickets here!
Yes, that’s a thing. And it’s one of the many holiday traditions explained (at breakneck speed) in Milwaukee Opera Theatre’s “The Meaning of Christmas,” which premieres on December 2nd on the streaming service AÏRIS as part of the Decameron Opera Coalition’s online anthology, DOC the Halls.
The story of this mini-opera is simple: A Catholic woman is bringing her Muslim boyfriend to her mom’s house for their very first Christmas together. She has only the five-minute drive to get him up to yuletide speed. It’s Over the River and Through the Woods for the Fast and Furious generation. For the composer and lyricist Adam Qutaishat, the piece reflects his history of trying to figure out “The Meaning of Christmas.”
“My family was both Catholic and Muslim,” explains Qutaishat, “so I had a very complicated history with Christmas growing up. There was a lot of confusion, and we celebrated it as an American holiday rather than a religious holiday.”
Later, Qutaishat’s music career exposed him to lots of Christmas tales and traditions. “I did my student teaching as a choral director at a Catholic school, and I’ve arranged a lot of Christmas music over the years. I’ve been involved in that music and culture despite feeling a little like an outsider. I knew I wanted to write about that.”
So he and MOT Artistic Director Jill Anna Ponasik came up with a simple scenario. “What if someone didn’t “get” Christmas,” Qutaishat says. “And someone else had to explain it…very quickly.”
“A lot of the song comes from experience,” he says. He recalls gatherings in which friends talk about holiday rituals to mystified looks: “Someone in a group describes their American or religious Christmas traditions and everyone looks puzzled.”
For a song involving a rapid-fire monolog, Qutaishat was inspired by Stephen Sondheim’s, “Getting Married Today” from Company. Once MOT tapped Ashley Oviedo to play the girlfriend, Qutaishat didn’t hesitate to cram lots of words and references into the piece. “I didn’t hold back on anything.” The boyfriend is played by Mohammad ElBsat. And mom, who we hear intoning inspirational carols over the rapid patter, is played by Cecilia Davis. “That role is based on my mom,” says Qutaishat. “She likes taking care of people and having a meal with the family.” Of the couple, he says, “I know both of those people, and I sort of am both of those people.”
In MOT’s video, you’ll hear, but not see, the three performers. To dramatize the story, MOT tapped animator Eric Miranda to create visuals. Qutaishat was thrilled with that decision. “I’ve wanted to do animation ever since I took a cartooning class in 8th grade,” he says. “My very kind teacher told me ‘sweetie, it’s not for you,’ but I’ve always been looking for a way to get involved in animation or comics.”
“Eric’s way of drawing things was wonderfully evocative of what I was going for musically,” he adds. “It fit really, really well.”
“The Meaning of Christmas” is part of the third online presentation of the Decameron Opera Coalition, a group of nine independent opera companies that came together in 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic was making live performances impossible. The group is named after Giovanni Boccaccio’s 14th-century collection of stories, said to be told among 10 people stranded on a rooftop during the plague. DOC’s first presentation was Tales from a Safe Distance, which premiered in October of 2020. In the fall of 2021, the group aired Heroes, nine short operas exploring the theme of heroism. This is the first time the group has tackled a holiday theme.
Which gives Qutaishat a chance to explore his “conflicted” feelings about the holidays. “It’s a pretty cynical piece,” he says, “but at the end, when the characters stop trying to desperately change each other to fit the culture’s idea of Christmas, then it becomes a wonderful thing.”
“The corporate machine of Christmas is something the world could definitely do without,” he adds. “But having days that are meaningful to people, and a time that helps people think of ways to better the world, well, I think that’s great.”
DOC the Halls premieres online at 6:30 p.m. on December 2nd. Order tickets here!
Paul Kosidowski is a Milwaukee-based free-lance writer who can’t wait for the eggnog to appear in the grocery stores every year.
