Asbury Park Press from Asbury Park, New Jersey • Page J14

JERSEY ALIVE! Asbury Park Press APP.COM LET THERE BE PEACE ON EARTH Fight-scene choreographer lays down his arms for Crossroads Theatre holiday show Page 14 Friday, Dec. 6, 2013 Eleven months of the year, the Montclair resident is busy as Broadway's premier fight director. He started in 1993 with "Beauty and the Beast" and has since provided the action for By Peter Filichia For the Asbury Park Press Courier News, Daily Record Home News Tribune This is the one month of the year when Rick Sordelet isn't fighting. more than 50 Broadway shows. Make no mistake about it: Sordelet loves staging brawls between enemies (in "Wait until buddies Championship as well as strong women and weak men (Kathleen Turner and Bill Irwin in "Who's Afraid of Virginia "But every December," he says, "I get to do my favorite gig of the year putting together 'Holiday Jubilee' for Crossroads." That's Crossroads Theatre Company in New Brunswick, where Sordelet is now in his fourth December of creating a show that's a mixture of musical and concert.

Needless to say, one can infer from the first word of the title the type of songs one will hear. And yet, Sordelet is quick to point out that Christmas carols won't be the only sounds ringing up to the Crossroads rafters. "You'll hear songs that celebrate everything from Kwanzaa to Hanuk-kah," he says, "as well as Ramadan and the Hindu feast of Diwali." New Brunswick's substantial South Asian population might note that Diwali often referred to as "Indian Christmas" is over by mid-November. Sordelet, however, won't be a stickler for dates. "We have an idea of how to celebrate that holiday, too," he says.

"And what better theater to do it in than Crossroads, a word that means a place where everyone meets?" Sordelet feels he's the right man for the job. "I come from a Greek, French, German and even a Chippewa background," he says proudly. "Holiday Jubilee" began in 2010, when Crossroads' new producing artistic director Marshall Jones wanted to offer something different from the usual December fare. So instead of staging Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," he'd use Christmas carols as a jumping-off point for an uplifting show. "Marshall had come to see what I had done for 'Romeo and Juliet' at the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival," says Sordelet, "and we just got talking.

It's very fitting that this man, who has done so much to keep Crossroads alive by bringing so many artists together, should be presenting a show about people getting together." Each year, the songs are linked by some "connecting tissue," as Sordelet calls it. The first "Holiday Jubilee" was set in an apartment where friends were saying goodbye to a friend who was moving to South Africa. The 2011 edition had travelers stuck at an airport raising their spirits by raising voices in song. Last year, the premise had performers and a Christmas tree on their way to the Apollo Theatre from Jersey -until all got stuck in the Lincoln Tunnel and understudies had to take over. In the grand show biz tradition, the "understudies" (who weren't understudies at all) came through brilliantly.

"This year," says Sordelet, "we're at a PTA meeting in a middle "Holiday Jubilee" director Rick Sordelet (right) is taking a break from his usual specialty, staging fight productions. school. That'll give kids from the Body and Music School of Performing Arts, which is in residence at Crossroads, a chance to perform even some Motown songs." The school caters to kids who range in age from 2 to 12. "In addition to seven students from the school," Sordelet says, "we also have 10 adults in the cast." The audience gets a chance to occasionally sing along. "And," he adds, "while we're not looking to make this experience particularly religious, somehow when the audience gets in there and everyone starts singing well, it does feel like a religious experience." After three years, Sordelet knows what to expect.

"We've found people who come in thinking that Christmas is simply too commercial come away with the true spirit of the holidays." There is, however, one part of the entertainment industry that won't be found in "Holiday Jubilee." "Let me put it this Crossroads Theatre producing artistic director Marshall Jones began "Holiday Jubilee" in 2010 as a way to offer something different from the usual December fare. STAFF PHOTO: JASON TOWLEN HOLIDAY JUBILEE WHERE: Crossroads Theatre Company, 7 Livingston New Brunswick WHEN: Through Dec. 15; performances and Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 3 and 8 p.m., and Sundays at 3 p.m. TICKETS: $40 INFO: 732-545-8100 or CrossroadsTheatre Company.org way," says Sordelet, before emitting a little laugh. "The plot of the show will never involve any stage combat." Peter Filichia; pfilichiaaol.com ORDER NOW: 732 246 7717 or GSPonline.org.