SOPHIE FRIEDMAN (LEFT) AND ANNA LOCKHART, BOTH OF OAKLAND, DISCUSS THEIR FAVORITE PARTS OF THE BRACEBRIDGE DINNER LAST SUNDAY. IT WAS BOTH GIRLS’ FIRST TIME AT THE CHRISTMAS PAGEANT. GAZETTE PHOTO BY JILL BALLINGER There are few things that can offer people the joy of giving and receiving at the same time. This time of year, there is much emphasis on the concepts, and it can sometimes become a struggle to balance the two.

There is one special place where both kinds of joy can be found in December. For eight nights, the Bracebridge Dinner at Yosemite gives its audiences the gifts of music, pageantry, feast and recogition of the season. For its profesional and volunteer cast, it provides a way to share talent, passion and love for Yosemite and the Christmas season.

Nine-year-old Sophie Friedman sat incredulous as the color and sounds of the pageant paraded by her table at the dinner. Her eyes danced with the music and she giggled as the jester snuck up behind her with a stuffed fish. She later referred to him as “that joker dude.”

JOHANNES MAGER, “CHAUNCEY, THE LORD OF MISRULE” KEPT THE AUDIENCE IN STITCHES THROUGH THE DINNER. HIS ROLE WAS ORIGINALLY PLAYED BY ANSEL ADAMS. HIS ANTICS WERE RIVALED BY ONLY A WILD RINGTAIL CAT THAT MADE SEVERAL UNPLANNED APPEARANCES THROUGHOUT THE EVENT. LANI SPICER/ANDREA FULTON PRODUCTIONS Sophie and her friend, Anna Lockhart, were seated at the visiting squire’s guest table, one of the best in the house. They were experiencing Bracebridge for the first time. Lockhart’s parents, Steven and Karen, portrayed the visiting squire and his wife.

There were some wrinkled noses when the cauliflower soup came. Neither seemed thrilled about the dungeoness crab course. Their faces quickly turned, however, when they were offered a substitute: french fries.

The fare may not have been quite as important to the girls, but they were impressed with the historic pageant just as well. Sophie’s mom, Scia, had brought along a purse full of activities, just in case the girls didn’t enjoy the evening.

She never had to pull them out. Scia Friedman had a little help in keeping the girls interested, however. It came in the form of an uninvited, ring-tailed cat, which scaled the towering beams of the Ahwahnee dining room and flitted through the elaborate set.

So magical is the performance that the age, interest or inclination of the audience does not matter. For eight nights each winter, the dinner enchants its packed-houses with history and joys of the season.

The event began in 1927, when the Ahwahnee Hotel was completed. Yosemite Park and Curry Company President Donald Tresidder envisioned a yuletide celebration in the majestic dining room. He hired a pageant director, and the dinner took its initial form.

The pageant director died in 1929, and the Yosemite resident who had played “Chauncey, The Lord of Misrule” was asked to rework the event. That cast member was Ansel Adams, and the basic form of the pageant remains today. Adams continued with Bracebridge until 1973.

The pageant is now produced by Andrea Fulton, who celebrated her 60th year with the event this year. She began her stint as a 5-year-old playing the part of a villager. She now is the venerable housekeeper, as well as the show’s contributing script writer, producer, stage and musical director and artistic producer.

The cast, including Fulton, receive great joy from the production, as evidenced by the fact that so many have returned for the performances for decades. What Sophie and Anna got from their stellar performances bring the cast members the joy of giving.

Following a recent performance, Pedro Rodelas, who plays “Pierre” the hilarious singing chef, talked about his involvement with Bracebridge. He said Fulton found him while he was taking part in other musical theater productions. This is his fifth year with Bracebridge.

Rodelas’ role has changed since he came on board. The chef character didn’t sing so much before, but Rodelas’ incredible tenor and exuberant personality changed that.

He says the chef’s singing has become the way in which the character expresses himself. “The chef has evolved into quite a character,” he said. That’s an understatement, as Rodelas has brought Pierre’s comic role nearly to the level of hilarity of that of Johannes Mager, the Lord of Misrule.

Rodelas said the itch to begin preparing for Bracebridge starts in about April of each year. By July, he and other cast members are anxiously awaiting their contracts. Rehearsals are held in El Sobrante, and then the cast gives the production one run-through right before the show begins its schedule.

Stacey Helley, who plays “Theo,” the minstrel and acts as Fulton’s understudy, has also been with the show for five years. She recognizes the enchanment and joy it brings and is happy to be a part of it. “It’s great,” Helley said. “It’s a really special kind of job.”

Their commitment is evident, and it would be difficult to tell that these polished performers with show-stopping voices have other ventures outside the Ahwahnee Hotel. Helley is a graduate music student in the Bay Area. Rodelas is a graphic designer who lives in Berkeley and also is part of the famous “The Three Waiters” show.

For eight nights in December, however, they become Pierre and Theo to hundreds of dedicated fans of newcomers to Bracebridge. Their music touches the heart of listeners, while the history and pageantry of the incredible feast brings people in droves.

The eight-course meal is choreographed and served as impeccably as the show is performed. For two young audience members, the food didn’t make the night. They delighted in chicken strips instead of duck, eyes hardly leaving the production.

As the dinner neared its completion, more than three hours after it began, there was no sign of sleepiness in either Sophie’s or Anna’s eyes.

Rodelas, Helley and the balance of the cast had again done

their jobs to perfection. Sophie leaned over to her father, Jim Friedman, and said, “I’m liking this a lot!”

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