Yosemite’s
Bracebridge
Dinner
Christmas Old-School Style
S
By Michael Cervin
designation in 1890 and was still
difficult to get to.
ince its inception in 1927,
the Bracebridge Dinner,
held each December at the
Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite
National Park, is a Yuletide
pageant of food, song and
spectacle; a unique and utterly
incomparable holiday event.
So the Bracebridge Dinner was
envisioned, a formal holiday pageant
loosely based on Washington Irving’s
1822 book, “A Christmas at
Bracebridge Hall.” The show has
certainly evolved over the years
into a one-of-a-kind experience in
Yosemite, at one point being so
popular they held a lottery to give
out tickets. “It’s on-going and ever
changing,” says Fulton. “It used to
be a male-only chorus from the
Bohemian Club in San Francisco. They
were all prima donnas,” Fulton jokes.
Not part of the script nor show in
the old days, Ansel Adams would
show up to rehearsals with, “a case
of scotch and a case of rye,” Fulton
says. It’s a wonder the show ever
came to fruition. It’s no longer
a male dominated show and the
booze makes no appearance during
rehearsals anymore (just closing
night). Bracebridge has evolved
just like its stunning surroundings
into a show so integrated with
the Ahwahnee that they are
nearly inseparable.
Famed photographer Ansel Adams
not only helped catapult Yosemite
to a national audience via his
haunting black and white images
of the park, but he was
instrumental in getting the
Bracebridge Dinner off the ground
as its director and performer.
“Ansel had a great, fine eye for
detail,” says current director and
actor, Andrea Fulton. “He would
have a light changed by only an
inch or two.” The set-up was
simple: when the Ahwahnee
Hotel opened in 1927, designed
for an upscale clientele, it was
decided to offer a Christmas
pageant to help lure in
potential wealthy patrons who
might ultimately help fund the
park’s meager budget. It had
only received its national
60
Almost 90 years after the first
performances, the dinner, offered
only in December and for only eight
performa nces and running at near
capacity, is a four-hour, sevencourse meal; a culinary and visual
treat. Over 60 performers in
sensationally detailed costumes
(I visited with the costume designer
and saw and felt the costumes up
close and they are brilliant) and
singers from the San Francisco
Opera, combine to make this not
only a feast for the stomach, but
also a feast for eyes and ears as
well. Rehearsals begin in September
and many of the performers have
been on this stage for a long time.
Fulton in fact first appeared not as
director, but as one of the “forest
folk” when she was a mere five years
old, giving her her 63 years as part
of the show; another actor had
performed for 52 years. “It makes
the group cohesive and builds a great
camaraderie,” Fulton told me.
The dinner begins with guests
dressed, most in formal attire,
enjoying cocktails and Christmas
carols at the two pianos in the Great