Everyone knows why the manger scene focuses on Joseph, Mary and the baby Jesus.
But "The First Ornaments of Christmas" is a reminder of why some other holiday traditions exist -- shepherds, Wise Men, stars and angels, for example.
FAQ
‘First Ornaments of Christmas’
WHEN — 8 p.m. Saturday
WHERE — Jones Center in Springdale
COST — Free
INFO — firstornamentsofchr…
BONUS — Other performances this season include 7 p.m. Dec. 10 at Samaritan House Fellowship in Springdale; 6:30 p.m. Dec. 16 at Fellowship Bible Church in Rogers; and 7 p.m. Dec. 18 at New Heights Church Warehouse in Fayetteville.
"I don't want people to think you have to embellish the Christmas story to making it interesting again," says Bryce Napier, creator of the multi-media rock opera that returns to Northwest Arkansas this weekend. "But I hope people see the Christmas story in a new way and see a new truth in it."
"The First Ornaments of Christmas" was born in 2011, during Napier's residency at Fellowship Church.
"While I was there, I had some time on my hands to do a creative project, so I wrote a telling of the Christmas story via kind of a rock opera," he remembers. "All the lyrics for all the songs tell the story of the coming of Christ. Then I drew a lot of illustrations to go along with the story. Those were then turned into animation. So during the performance, you watch the band play, hear all the lyrics and see the story portrayed with the animation. It's kind of a multi-media rock nativity."
There's "usually quite a lot going on" in the one-hour performance, he adds. "If one part of it doesn't interest you, hopefully another part of it will."
-- Becca Martin-Brown
NAN What's Up on 11/27/2015