Asolo Rep's 'All Is Calm' re-creates a quiet Christmas miracle

A separate peace broke out in 1914, the first year of World War I. It began all along the Western Front in Europe in the days leading up to Christmas. Snow was falling, bullets flying. 

Then German and British soldiers began singing music hall songs, patriotic ballads and Christmas carols on both sides of No Man’s Land, the area between where the enemies had dug in. This turned into a call and response. 

After the music met, the men gradually came together. They sang songs, exchanged gifts, swapped helmets, played soccer and buried their dead. 

A miracle or a freak occurrence? Either way, it actually happened. Peter Rothstein’s “All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914” brings the silenced songs of this improbable history to the Historic Asolo Theater stage in The Ringling.

Rothstein is directing this musical. He also authored it, in collaboration with Erick Lichte and Timothy C. Takach, who created the vocal arrangements. 

In this Asolo Rep production, Rothstein’s approach is minimal, but not starkly minimalistic. A choir of nine men sing the songs.There’s no orchestration; it’s all a capella. 

The show alternates song with speech; the music is broken up with quotes from letters, diaries, newspaper articles, war records and poets both living and dead. They’re the words of the men who were there or the men responsible. Nothing’s made up. After each reading, the actor recites the name of the quote’s author.

The soldiers personified aren’t larger-than-life heroes; they’re young men, often teens, caught in a global conflict they can’t grasp and didn’t start. 

Each actor portrays more than one character. Along with the choral ensembles, there are many moving solo performances. Tenor Benjamin Dutcher delivers a powerful rendition of "Stille Nacht” ("Silent Night"). Tenor Phinehas Bynum is equally powerful on "Minuit Chrétiens” ("O Holy Night"). 

The spoken word characterizations are also gripping. Sasha Andreev’s portrayal of Captain Hulse of the Scots Guards is deeply moving. He’s a sane man in a bloody mad world.

 James Ramlet’s portrayal of Winston Churchill (the Lord of the British Admiralty in 1914) is mordantly comic. He dryly speculates on what would happen if Britain’s soldiers all went on strike and stopped fighting. Winnie’s soft-spoken understatement hides the true message: “Stop this damnable peace nonsense by any means necessary!”

Rothstein’s deft direction pulls you into deeply personal, human moments. He’s not moving the actors around like chess pieces on a board. He’s pulling you into their stream-of-consciousness. (Outside of telepathy, diaries and letters are probably the closest equivalent.) Empathy is always the point.

Erick Lichte’s music direction makes the most of limited time and space. The soldiers sing their hearts out and it never feels contrived.

Marcus F. Dillard’s lighting and practical effects evoke the literal fog of war. (You can almost feel the cold.) Greg Emetaz’ projections reveal the larger theater of war without overwhelming the small-scale action.

Trevor Bowen’s costume design perfectly fits the musical’s point. British or German, the soldiers all wear black. Outside of accents and helmets, there’s no way to tell who’s who. They’re human; what else do you need to know?

These talents quietly pull you back to the Western Front in 1914. “All is Calm” isn’t in your face. There’s no tear-jerking or tub-thumping. This musical softly asks you to feel what these soldiers felt and see through their eyes. After that, your imagination does the work.

The “Christmas Truce” of 1914 really happened. A separate peace, in one of history’s bloodiest wars? Logically and practically, that should never have happened. It defies common sense …

Call it a miracle, call it a freak occurrence. But that’s not what’s so miraculous about the “Christmas Truce.” 

In the bloody No Man’s Land of the 21st century, we’re used to bizarre, unlikely events. But they’re usually the devil’s handiwork. A nut with an AK-47 blasts a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado. Another well-armed nut attacks the Sandy Hook Elementary School.

A nut with his own country (Vladimir Putin, Russia) invades Ukraine and kills a lot of people. Just because he can. 

Every few weeks, the flag seems to go to half-staff. So it goes. Such atrocities are barely news these days. But this spontaneous outbreak of peace is not the norm. It’s not what you expect. But it actually happened. At least once.

And that’s something to sing about.