Ho ho ho, Christmas is around the corner, and Santa Claus is Coming to Town! Making its debut at the Pieter Toerien’s Montecasino Theatre this festive season, Santa is inviting all the kids (and the parents, too) to the magical sleigh ride around the world through the timeless holiday hits including "Jingle Bells", "Let It Snow", Santa Baby, All I Want For Christmas and Here Comes Santa Claus.
Directed by Shelley Adriaanzen, "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town! follows the magical journey of Santa Claus as he leaves his home in the North Pole to deliver presents all around the world.
Days leading to his departure, Santa gets “slightly depressed”. He decides to skip Christmas, but Mrs Claus will hear none of that. She tells Santa, he cannot let the children down.
So eventually Santa gets his reindeers ready and starts with his annual journey. He gets to Joburg, and the presents are stolen at the first traffic light he stops at.
Artistic director and co-producer of the show, Jaco van Rensburg, tells us this family production will warm the hearts of many South Africans.
On why they decided to touch on the issue of depression and crime in this colourful musical, he explained: “We don’t really get into that much. But we sort of allude to the fact that Santa sees how the world is being mistreated in terms of littering and all the global warming issues. He gets quite sad when he sees how people are treating the planet. And that makes him just want to stay home in the North Pole. He sees that the world is changing and not necessarily for the better. But it’s not a preachy story.
“We really want people to come and have a good time. We’re not preaching about crime and that kind of stuff. We’re just set it in the South African context, where something like that happening could be believable. Then also we focus on the goodness of people who helped Santa find the presents.”
On what he’s hoping the audiences will take away from the play, he said: “Christmas season is about people. It’s not about things. It’s not about what you have. It’s all about the goodness we can share with one another. We have the power to make the world a better place.”
Santa Claus Is Coming To Town! is currently showing at Pieter Toerien Theatre, Montecasino, until January 5.
Tickets are available at Computicket from R150.