'The story is about forgiveness'

The paint is going on and the signs are going up as the sanctuary of the Crossroads Neighborhood Church becomes a Victorian Christmas for the eighth consecutive year.

The curtain goes up on the musical “A Christmas Rose” 7 p.m. Nov. 29-Dec. 1 and Dec. 5-8. Doors open at 6 p.m. Tickets are $5 and can be purchased at the Kitsap Mall and at the Crossroads facility, 7555 Old Military Road between Silverdale and Bremerton.

“The story is about forgiveness,” said Pastor Joel Skellie, who wrote the script and music for “A Christmas Rose.”

“The whole idea is contained in a speech that our narrator Billy gives, that love initiates our relationships with one another, but it’s forgiveness that maintains them,” he said.

The musical, the third installment in what has become a series, brings back characters Katherine Livingstone (Paula Lewis) and Ben Truelove (Adam Matthew) who last year developed an affinity for each other. This year they are set to be married, but have a falling out.

Katherine heads back to Boston and the couple correspond by letters.

“We’ve created a cast of characters who live in this village in England and I think we’re just kind of getting involved in their lives and trying to tell their story,” he said.

“These are people trying to figure out what faith is,” he said.

Truelove learns Katherine gave birth to a child as a teen and left her on the steps of a church. Abandoned by his own father, he cannot understand how someone could do that.

A sub-plot follows another character as she finds forgiveness from a community that once shunned her for being a drunk.

“Another theme of this is forgiveness is not only important for individual relationships, but forgiveness is also necesary to maintain community,” Skellie said.

The play runs through five seasons from Christmas to Christmas with corresponding scene changes. The cast has 39 people, the orchestra has five, 20-25 are tech people and about 30-40 people prepared the set.

The Victorian theme extends far beyond the stage. Patrons will step back in time as soon as they set foot in the church.

In the lobby is a Victorian village with a dress shop, a lithograph shop, a cobbler shop, and a music shop, that sells the CD soundtrack.

“Christmas as we know it today didn’t really exist several hundred years ago. The Victorian era sort of brought all the romance and the decorations and the stories of the popular Western concept of what Christmas is about,” Skellie said.

The show is appropriate for all ages.

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