The perils looming over the characters in Lawrence Community Theatre’s production of “The Christmas Schooner” are dangerously real.

In researching the musical’s story, Topeka director Jeff Montague ran across photographs of ships coated in inches of ice. He talked to cast members who grew up in Chicago and remember hearing wave crest reports for Lake Michigan on the news.

“Others on the show have talked about similar kinds of knowledge and experience that the Great Lakes are horrible to try to sail in the winter,” Montague said. “The crossing that they attempted was extraordinarily dangerous.”

The crossing Montague is referring to is the one made in the play by the Stossel family, a group of German immigrants that settles in a small town on Lake Michigan’s northern shore.

“The Christmas Schooner” tells the true story of the pioneering sailors who braved the lake’s icy waters to deliver Christmas trees to the people of Chicago after the Great Chicago Fire in the 19th century. The musical follows the Stossel family: grandfather Gus (Alfred Lata), son Peter (Dan Hayes), his wife Alma (Sarah Young), and their son Karl (Colby Sostarich). Without knowing whether people will want their cargo, they haul Christmas trees across the dangerous winter waters and are met at the Chicago docks by crowds eager to purchase the trees and carry on the tradition of Tannenbaum.

The musical carries several messages, Montague said. It reminds us how people care about each other and the importance of preserving cultural traditions.

“Peter is willing to risk life and limb and a successful business to preserve the traditions of his culture,” he said. “Maybe it’s worth risking your life and your livelihood for those kind of things.”

“The Christmas Schooner” is becoming increasingly popular as an alternative to holiday standards like the “The Christmas Carol” or “The Nutcracker.” The musical, by John Reeger and Julie Shannon, has become especially popular in Chicago.

“There’s a theater in Chicago that does it every year,” Montague said. “For one of their programs, they hand out sheet music so the audience can sing along.”

The music is very captivating, he said. Selections range from German-style Christmas carols to upbeat and humorous songs.

Cast Members of The

Other cast members include Karl and Quinn Wasson, who play the older Karl. The ensemble includes Sarah Smith, Ann LaPoint, Jill Troupe, Bethanie Marshall, Jeff Blair, Brent McCall, Mario Bonilla, Annette Cook and Chris Cook. Francene Beall is handling musical direction, and Barabar Wasson is choreographer

Montague hopes the show has the same affect on audiences that it first had on him.

“It sounds trite to say, but it spoke to me,” he said. “When I read the script and listened to the CD, it really did make me cry.”