Halloween eve, musician, actor and writer Banjo Bill unleashed his latest creative endeavor on the world in the form of a five part video series called Nick: The Early Years.  Each subsequent Monday, viewers were treated to the next installment, which can now all be seen on his YouTube channel /BanjoBillGreen or embedded below.

I asked about the idea and process in creating the series and Bill graciously elaborated:

The idea for the series, “Nick: The Early Years,” grew out of Facebook banter last December. I wondered why stories of Santa Claus were always about the already established legend, not about how he got where he was. Somebody pointed out the 1970 Rankin-Bass TV special, “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,” but its fairy-tale German setting was not what I had in mind. Wherever a real Nick would emerge from would be its own hard-edged, practical here-and-now, much like our own. So why not challenge young Nick to realize his grand ambitions in a world exactly like our own, but without a Santa Claus? Everything in “A Night Before Christmas” and popular Christmas legends and songs would be Nick’s own brilliant idea—his crazy dream. And over it all would hang the garbled quotation from Voltaire: ‘If Santa Claus did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.'”

He continued describing what would be come the storyline, “The first thing Nick would do, I imagined, would be to apply for a startup loan at a bank. When this didn’t work, his only recourse – as Mrs. Claus points out when she leaves him – is magic. Help comes in the form of a ghost out of Charles Dickens, the Spirit of Christmas Consumerism, agent of a nameless supernatural power eager to commercialize the holiday. Soon Nick finds himself at the North Pole surrounded by workers smuggled north by the towering elf patron, Don Chico. Even this does not guarantee success, he realizes as Mrs. Claus points out the monumental size of his job. In his moment of despair, the Spirit of Christmas Debit appears with an answer.

After the idea of Dickens ghosts emerged, the story all but wrote itself last December and January, in 11 scenes, with 8 major characters and 7 locations. Last May, I restructured it as five ten-minute episodes and recruited Jerry Wallace, cameraman and actor in many of my previous videos, to co-produce this ambitious project. It was rehearsed and shot, working two intense evenings per week, over the months of July and August. The weather was so hot that Santa’s workshop at the North Pole, actually the Fountain Square Players scene shop, was 96 degrees during one shoot.

The actors are all generous collaborators I have worked with before in Public Theatre of Kentucky or Fountain Square Players. James Catalan, who plays Nick, realistically grew a beard during the two-month shoot, transforming into a young “Santa.” I played the ghost Consumerism, Jerry Wallace the banker, and other lead roles were played by Donna Lauth, Daniel Curry, Jessie Varner, Miliska Knauft, and Bill Russell. My video sidekick Sheldon Shaffer sings in the final episode, with Marie Guthrie, and Elizabeth Bissette, with theme music provided by Johnny Thompson.

It’s a weird satiric take on the Santa legend, the story of the rise and fall of a North Pole wannabe in an alternate universe much like our own, but with a Santa-vacuum at its core. It’s PG with respect to language and such, but the cynicism behind the satire may not amuse children.

Banjo Bill will also play a Christmas-themed solo show Friday December 10, 6:30 until 9:00 at Greener Groundz.

Videos:

Nick: The Early Years – Part 1 A Startup Loan:

Nick: The Early Years – Part 2 A Christmas Ghost:

Nick: The Early Years – Part 3 The Dream Factory:

Nick: The Early Years – Part 4 An Impossible Job?:

Nick: The Early Years – Part 5 A Christmas Secret: