NarroWay Productions — Attraction in Pineville

This is the review that I wish I wasn’t writing. The punchline is: Narroway Theater advertises itself as a Christian Theater, but I’m sorry to say it isn’t. If you’d like to know why, read on.

When dinner was served, a man came out center stage to say a prayer over the meal with the entire crowd. After dinner was cleared, the two ladies who wrote and directed the show came out. They spent about 15 minutes speaking passionately about the importance of prayer, writing God’s word on our hearts, how we are all in need of rescue and salvation from Jesus; I teared up. This was off to a great start! These folks seem to be genuine! Then…the show started.

Within 10 minutes my husband and I exchanged shocked sideways glances that said, “Are you seeing what I’m seeing? What in the world…??” The show began in Santa’s workshop, with an adult elf and a small elf played by a girl about 6 years old. Here are the things we saw and heard in the so-called "REAL" Christmas Story:

1. The adult and child actor were arguing: when the adult turned her back, the child mocked her with inappropriate gestures for several minutes.

2. When the adult asked the child why she had fired Rudolph, one of the reasons that she guessed included a sexual innuendo: “Was Rudolph doing inappropriate things with Vixen and Cupid again?”

3. The entire first half of the show was a musical montage of 100% secular Christmas songs that included “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.” Yes, I know it’s mom kissing dad, but the child singing the song misunderstands this to be witnessing adultery.

4. Santa Claus circulating the audience to say hi to kids.

Then came the final straw for us:

5. Included in the montage was “Grandma got run over by a reindeer.” This is a HORRENDOUS song that talks about Grandma getting drunk on too much eggnog and then being in a hit and run, in which she is killed. Personally I’ve always hated this song, but was shocked that it was included here at a "Christian" theater. The way they performed it: a group of “hillbillies” came out onto the stage in a melodramatic parade, lead by “grandpa” carrying a grotesque dummy that was supposed to be the dead body of “grandma,” freshly run over. My daughter described it as “really creepy.” Then: CENTER STAGE was a woman with a 7 FOOT YELLOW PYTHON (a real one) AROUND HER NECK.

WE GOT UP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SHOW AND LEFT.

It’s pretty common knowledge that a snake is LITERALLY symbolic of Satan in the Bible, straight from the Garden of Eden. Even folks who aren’t Christian usually know that.

So at a “Christian” theater, in a show called “The REAL Christmas,” you’re going to parade a GIANT LIVE SNAKE CENTER STAGE??? I’m out.

We went into the lobby and there was just one employee at the ticket counter because it was not yet intermission. We respectfully told her how incredibly offended we were and why. We told her about the contrast we were HOPING for. Her response: “Well, in all the years this show has been running, no one has ever complained about that. Everybody always loves this show. We are showing Christmas Tradition in the first half and the second half is the Jesus story. You should stay for the second half of the show and you’ll see it.” She indicated that their opinion was that both the “Christmas traditions” and Christ were of equal importance.

My family and I are not legalists. But we do take our faith very seriously, and try our best to remember that the God of the Universe and our Savior deserves our absolute worship, respect, adoration, and exaltation. We owe him EVERYTHING. He does not deserve to be an afterthought or a mere story of tradition like all the others.

Audience: if you want a Christmas show that reflects American culture (glitz, glam, Santa, family…oh and yeah, a baby in a manger too), then you’ll probably be fine with this show. If you’re looking for a Biblical reflection of The REAL Christmas Story, with Christ front and center as he should be, save your money and go to your local church Christmas pageant instead. It...

I want to start by saying that the actors and dancers were incredible. Their performances were easily the highlight of the evening, and I can see a lot of potential for them to go far, even as far as Broadway. However, there are several aspects of the experience that need serious improvement.

The Food: The food was extremely disappointing, both in taste and presentation. We were served cold, unseasoned breaded chicken, beans that seemed like they came straight from a can, and macaroni and cheese, which was the only redeeming dish on the plate. The cornbread was incredibly salty—cornbread is supposed to be sweet, not salty! There was also a berry dish that didn’t quite make sense with the rest of the meal. My mother, sister, and I barely touched our plates, and we ended up leaving the performance hungry and unsatisfied. We had to stop for gyros afterward just to feel full, which was definitely not what we expected after a $57 ticket price.

The Story: Where do I even begin? First, the website should include a warning about the sensitive topics that are discussed during the performance. As a Black Caribbean woman visiting from Miami, FL with my family, I was not prepared for some of the content and felt extremely uncomfortable. It wasn’t just me—my whole family felt caught off guard. Had I known about the nature of the topics, I would never have bought tickets.

Also, some parts of the storyline were poorly developed. There were so many interesting plot points that were introduced but never fully explored. For instance, there was a touching moment when Tennessee dressed as an angel to surprise a young girl with the news that she would have a baby, but after that, it was never addressed again. It felt like a missed opportunity to deepen the story.

Duration: The performance was incredibly long, much longer than I expected. If you’re going to prohibit phones, there should at least be a clock somewhere to keep track of time. I went in expecting a standard-length show of about 90 minutes, but it dragged on. Between the lackluster food and uncomfortable topics, I was ready to leave early. However, because I spent $57 on this, I kept hoping the experience would improve—but that moment never came.

Overall, I can see why the theater has a 4.8-star rating, but it's clearly not for the food, story, or timing. I suspect it’s for the religious content, which seems to resonate with a lot of the audience. While the performers have incredible potential, Narroway still has a long way to go before I’d recommend it to anyone. I came here hoping for a positive experience with my family, but I left feeling embarrassed for...

Super impressed by NarroWay Theater! We were looking for something to do on New Years 12/31/2024 that didn’t involve going into Charlotte or drinking. NarroWay was having a dinner show production of “The Emporer’s New Clothes”. Price was reasonable for dinner and a show so we decided to try the later show having the additional feature that we would watch the Times Square ball drop while we were there. First off, everything about before the show was impressive. The facilities, the theater-in-the-round (or ½ round) instead of a stage, the decorations left over from the holidays were excellent, the stage production set itself was expansive, colorful, and clearly professionally done. All the staff dressed in costumes that would be used in the show, talked the part, and were all pleasant and helpful. After seated, the actors warmed up the crowd well and it was all relevant to the production we were about to see. The whole cast seemed to know exactly what they were doing and it appeared well-rehearsed. The production itself was brilliant. Well-acted, great humor and physical comedy, fantastic singing and songs. There were a few scenes where I actually laughed out loud a few times it was so witty and well done. I think the last time I laughed out loud a few times in a stage production was at Broadway plays in NYC. And the moral of the story was well woven into the story without being overbearing. Totally enjoyable and impressed with the cast as a whole as well as the individual actors. Speaking and singing actors definitely of all ages, but even if they didn’t have a speaking part. Given the tiny tables you had to eat a 5-course meal on, the servers who were also the actors, did a really nice job in helping you through that juggling process. And the food was tasty. After the show, the theater lowered these huge projection screens behind the set and streamed the Times Square live footage while we walked around and met or took pictures with the cast who were also hanging out waiting for the ball to drop. The cast was very hospitable to and participatory with the audience (both before, during, and after the show). And when the ball dropped everyone (cast and audience both) was engaged in counting down and doing the small celebration afterwards with a glass/drink to toast with provided by NarroWay staff. Well done NarroWay and thank you for a...