Santa’s Little Reindeer Rap

This short play is a take on the traditional Santa Claus Christmas story, but Santa isn’t feeling well and forgets his medication. Silliness ensues and it’s up to one little reindeer to save the day. Val is known for her sweet children’s plays that feature rap. It’s a fun and accessible way to involve many students. The raps can be divided among groups of students and can be read or memorized. Easy for young children to perform and fun for older students to perform for younger audiences.

About the Playwright:

Val Neubecker lives in Perth, Australia. She wrote scripts for a theatre restaurant for 18 years and has had three children’s books published. Her poems, short stories and plays have been published in The School Magazine, also NZ School Journal. She has published five e-books: The Rock, The School Photograph, What a Performance, An Alphabet of Australian Animals, and Santa’s Little Reindeer. ‘Ho! Ho! Ho! & Other Christmas Songs’, features Val’s work as a composer and lyricist. It also includes activities and worksheets to accompany the songs. Val is the Secretary and Poetry Coordinator for Creative Connections, an organisation where poets write poems to works of art created by artists with disabilities.

More plays by Val Neubecker on Drama Notebook:

• Cinderella Rap
• Snow White Rap
• Little Red Riding Hood Rap
• Three Little Pigs Rap
• Robin Hood Rap
• Jack and the Beanstalk Rap
• Space Travel Rap
• Ghostly Rap
• Little Miss Muffet
• Santa’s Little Reindeer, The Musical

Excerpt from the play:

CHARACTERS:

FIRST CHARACTER – Narrator
SECOND CHARACTER – Head Elf
THIRD CHARACTERS – Elves 1,2 & 3
FOURTH CHARACTER – Little Reindeer
FIFTH CHARACTERS – Young Reindeer 1,2 & 3
SIXTH CHARACTER – Santa’s Reindeer (8)
SEVENTH CHARACTERS – Doctor
OTHER CHARACTERS – Rappers (extra elves & reindeer)

SETTING 1: North Pole with a sleigh nearly full of presents. Elves milling about.

NARRATOR:
It’s Christmas Eve and everyone is very excited.

(ELVES 1,2 & 3 run on and off-stage putting presents near sleigh.)

HEAD ELF:
(Waving a long list) We’ve nearly finished packing the presents. Are they all ready?

ELF 1:
Yes, they’re all ready to go.

ELF 2:
Here’s some more.

ELF 3:
And here’s the last one.

RAP 1: (some elves)
We’ve /finished /making /all the /gifts,
We’ve /worked so /hard in /lots of /shifts,
There’s /train sets, /dolls and /games for /fun,
And /bats and /balls – and /now we’re /done. (whew)

HEAD ELF:
Oh, thank you and well done, all of you. Now we’ll finish packing the sleigh.

(ELVES stack all presents in sleigh, HEAD ELF ticks list).

ELF 1:
Oh, look out! Here come all the young reindeer.

(ALL YOUNG REINDEER noisily enter, ELVES watch)

YOUNG REINDEER 1:
Hurray! School’s finished! Let’s go out and play.

(LITTLE REINDEER enters)

LITTLE REINDEER:
(excitedly) Santa’s reindeer will be here tonight.

YOUNG REINDEER 2:
(frowning) So? We can still go and play.

LITTLE REINDEER:
I can’t wait to see them.

YOUNG REINDEER 3:
(rolling eyes) Santa’s reindeer! That’s all you think about.

LITTLE REINDEER:
Well, they’re great. They’ve learned to fly, they’re strong and they’ve done heaps of training and study to be in Santa’s team.

YOUNG REINDEER 1:
Oh, who wants to do all that?

LITTLE REINDEER:
Well, I do! I’ve been studying and I’m going to practise my flying right now.

(LITTLE REINDEER exits)

RAP 2: (some reindeer)
The /Little /Reindeer /has a /dream,
He /wants to /be in /Santa’s /team,
He’s /taken /off to /fly a/gain,
To /all of /us, he’s /just a /pain.

ALL YOUNG REINDEER:
Yah! Play time!