Tis the season to be jolly, as the old Christmas carol goes and we reckon that there’s no other show that’s more jolly than Dream Academy’s annual Yuletime production, Crazy Christmas: A groundNUTCRACKER, particularly since the company is celebrating 15 years in the business.

“I guess I am surprised that we’ve lasted this long,” said Selena Tan, who started Dream Academy.

This year’s Crazy Christmas show is, quite literally, the biggest one the theatre company is attempting, and we’re not just talking about the cast, which is nearly 60-strong, and features a host of Crazy Christmas regulars including The Dim Sum Dollies (Selena Tan, Denise Tan and Pam Oei), Sebastian Tan, Kumar, Karen Tan and Michaela Therese, among others; as well as a newbie to the cast, actor Caleb Goh.

“It’s become somewhat of a tradition now, and we are celebrating, in a way, stuff we’ve done in the past, although we’re doing new stuff as well,” said Selena Tan.

“Sebastian is doing a retelling of the story of The Nutcracker, the ballet, in Hokkien. He plays an ah beng Santa Claus, if you can imagine that. We have Pam coming back in her character, Bat, with a new spin on it. And something to do with Adele.

“We’ve also got a whole Star Wars tribute happening, because the movie is opening this Christmas season.”

Speaking of Christmas seasons, like previous editions, A groundNUTCRACKER will feature a selection of Christmas songs but with a twist. “We’ve got an a cappella number with us doing The Twelve Days Of Christmas, but sort of all messed up,” said Selena.

And there will also be a performance by a combined choir made up of members from Nanyang Primary School and some seniors from the Henderson Senior Activities Centre.

“It’s a project as part of our Giving Week initiative, to bring the two groups of people together,” said Selena Tan. “They’ve had fun rehearsing together and getting to know one another and having the opportunity to perform on The Esplanade stage.”

She got the idea, she said, after watching a video on YouTube about a playschool and nursing home that were both located in the same compound. “The kids were dropped off by their parents in the old folks’ home. But it was very nice to see them interact.”

Selena decided to find out if there was a school choir here in Singapore that would be willing to spend some time with the seniors from a centre. It took Dream Academy about six months to get everything together just for this segment. “Nanyang Primary School was very happy to come onboard,” she said. “The children are very eager and they’ve been spending time with our musical director and choreographer and our director George (Chan), and they’ve pieced an item together.”

“They’re not professional singers and it’s just a platform for them to come together, spend time together and have fun onstage.”

Meanwhile, having fun onstage is something that new cast member Caleb Goh is hoping will happen. Although he had been previously approached to appear in other Crazy Christmas editions, he always had to turn them down because of scheduling conflicts and because he now lives in California.

“This is the first time I’ve actually been able to say yes,” he said over the phone, adding that he was contacted about a year ago for this show.

“I can’t really explain (what the show is about) because it’s one of those things, it’s very … well, suffice it to say, that somehow during the Nutcracker ballet part, we end up in a KTV lounge,” he said. “There are several weird meta moments, I guess, but there are some lovely warm, feel-good moments, too.

“I also get a really cool duet with Michaela singing a medley of three Christmas songs. So there are a lot of fun things we’ll be doing.”

According to Goh, even though he’s the newbie in the group, he hasn’t felt any pressure in the face of the other Crazy Christmas veteran performers. “To be honest, it’s really like a family of close friends who have grown up in the industry together,” he said.

“Selena and George are really aware of what each one of us is capable of doing, so they really tailor the comedy skits, the dance numbers and the singing segments according to what our strengths are. They play to our strengths, so all of us are really doing what we are good at and we’re all given opportunities to shine within solo numbers, duets and group skits.”

He continued: “I think the only pressure I have is from myself — I want to do a good job because I want to get asked back at some point! But I’ve never actually performed at The Esplanade Theatre before, so that is a first for me, too.”

There was, however, pressure for Selena Tan, who, apart from getting this show together, also had to produce the Dim Sum Dollies show earlier this year. The biggest challenge, she said, was getting the schedules sorted.

“We have so many people on board. We have, what, 18 people in the main cast, and we have 40 people in the choir … scheduling has been an absolute nightmare,” she said.

While she acknowledged that it could be difficult to stand out in the climate where there currently is a proliferation of performances, Selena also said that it was important to do what was “good for the now, for this moment”.

“You don’t want to be bogged down by trying to outdo … other people or yourself … because it can drag you down. You just need to do your best at that point.”

She added: “Singapore is saturated with performances I think, but it all depends. Everybody has their own niche. People come to us because it boils down to what puts you in the mood for Christmas. It could be us, or a pantomime — you go to that familiar.”

Something familiar is also on the cards for Dream Academy next year. “We have Broadway Beng celebrating his 10th anniversary; and we’ll be back with a bang with our stand-up comedy show Happy Ever Laughter in October,” she said.

“But before that, we start next year with a comedy duo show, fronted by Siti Khalijah Zainal and Judee Tan. It’s called Meenah And Cheenah. It’s kind of a French And Saunders take on local life.”

And has she already started planning for next year’s Crazy Christmas? “Well, not quite. I normally like to just see how it goes. But it’s nice that people do want to watch it. We’ll keep doing it as long as people want it.”

Crazy Christmas: A groundNUTCRACKER runs from Dec 10 to 19 at the Esplanade Theatre. Tickets from SISTIC.