Little Elves reimagines Saint Nicholas folk tale of the Evil Butcher in time for Halloween

There is no doubt that Santa Claus is a beloved figure worldwide, but the historic folk tale of his namesake, Saint Nicholas — and the reason he is the patron saint of children — is undeniably dark.

The tale of the Evil Butcher recounts the murder of three children and their miraculous resurrection after Saint Nicholas intervenes.

Chromatic Theatre and Handsome Alice Theatre have reimagined that story in Little Elves, asking audiences to imagine what if the original folk tale itself was a lie, told to cover up the murder of the butcher and to protect against prejudice and the violence that would follow if the truth were discovered?

“I had the question of what if these three children were elves, and what if they created this whole tale of Saint Nicholas and the Evil Butcher? They created this lie because they actually killed their captor, who was the butcher, and they needed to find a way to justify their actions,” said Kodie Rollan, artistic director of Chromatic Theatre and co-director of Little Elves.

“I have the question of what does it look like to find justice, and what does justified revenge looks like, and how can we fight that?” he said.

Beyond just being an entertaining thriller and ghost story, Little Elves aims to make people think about what prejudice and xenophobia do to society.

“I’m a Filipino immigrant, and I saw a lot of anti-Asian racism, especially in 2020 amid the peak of Covid. And we’re seeing that now as well with things happening with the referendum, so it still feels very pertinent,” said Rollan.

“Two very small things that I want audiences to take away, I think, are curiosity and hope. This musical touches on a lot of hard things, and something that my mentors have always told me is that in order to tackle hard issues, in order to explore hard topics through the arts, it requires a lot of joy and it requires a lot of hope, and that’s something really tried to imbue in the show.”

Music five years in the making

Although Little Elves was never intended to be a Halloween show, said Rollan, it’s by happy happenstance that it’s premiering just in time for it.

“This beautiful, gruesome, folky musical that we’ve created has a lot of laughter, a lot of heart, and some maybe some you know a spoiler alert, a little bit of light cannibalism,” he said.

“Being in a community of theatres who are able to offer horror as a genre at this time is is so wonderful… the fact that we get to be among Theatre Calgary and ATP, it feels really special. For Alix and I who’ve been working on this for five years, this is the the culmination of our dreams.”

Rollan, who wrote the book and co-wrote the lyrics, said he approached his co-creator, composer and co-lyricist Alixandra Cowman, with an idea about adapting the tale of Saint Nicholas for the stage.

“I remember telling her, ‘I have this horror Christmas play that I’m thinking about. Do you think it could be a musical?’ And she jumped right at the opportunity to work with me,” he said.

“I’ve always been someone who has a social justice bone. I have lots of questions in and around how our world works, especially in terms of what what constitutes doing the right thing, what keeps us human, what keeps us in community with each other… and so when I was shared this story, it all kind of clicked.”

Putting the gruesome story to music, said Rollan, makes the subject matter more accessible and also more entertaining.

“Alix has has a long like history of folk music. She has a great folk background. She’s also an expert in three part harmony, particularly for females, and so the harmonies of the show are incredibly tight,” he said.

“Sometimes I would send some song ideas, and then she would take it and then blow it up into a song with all these harmonies, these great instrumentations. So I’m I’m really lucky to have a partner who I genuinely believe is a is a musical genius.”

What audiences are going to get is one part pop, one part folk and more than a few earworms they’ll be humming after the show, said Rollan.

“We’ve had multiple development workshops of this piece, and one of the two songs that always comes back is the opening number Oh What You Don’t Know, which is super fun. It’s already setting us up for the things you don’t know, and you’re about to find out,” he said.

“The other song is Light the Torches, which is the climax of of the show. I won’t say too much because then it spoils.”

The best way to picture the music, said Rollan, was to think about singing scary stories around a campfire.

“That’s the overall vibe of the piece, and so the music really matches that,” he said.

Little Elves stars Selina Wong as Colette, Safia Comtois-Mohamad as Toni and Isabella Pedersen as Abby, with Raeff Fontaine as the Butcher, the Bishop and the Constable, and Abigail Monarrez as puppeteer. Rollan co-directs the production with Jenna Rodgers, who is also the show’s dramaturg.

The production runs from Oct. 28 to Nov. 7 at the Victor Mitchell Theatre at Pumphouse Theatres. Tickets are available through Showpass.

For more details, see www.chromatictheatre.ca/little-elves.