The Golden Dreidel is a short children's book written by Ellen Kushner. It has recently been re - released with illustrations by Kevin Keele. It is a simple story about the miracle of Chanukah. What separates it from some of other stories written about the Chanukah story is that it closely resembles The Nutcracker story for Christmas.
So not surprisingly, New York’s Vital Theater Company asked Ellen to adapt the book as a play for their 2008/09 season — and at the last minute she fulfilled her life’s dream of acting on stage in New York, when she stepped in to play the part of Tante Miriam!
This is the story of Sara, who is frustrated that her family cannot celebrate Christmas, like her friends. That Chanukah is not as colorful and brilliantly lit up as Christmas. She and her brother, Seth join her parents and all the cousins, aunts and uncles for the annual Chanukah party. As the kids are playing dreidel, Tante Miriam arrives and has a big bag of gifts for everyone. Sara is given a golden dreidel and a warning to be careful, this is not an ordinary dreidel. In a fight over the dreidel with her brother, the TV is damaged. In the middle of the night just like a broken nutcracker in the other version, Sara is taken on an adventure... is it real or did she just dream it?
An interesting take off on the classic Christmas story. And the perfect vehicle for a holiday stage play and maybe some day a short movie to watch on Chanukah.
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