One Sleepy Night

One Sleepy Night at Music Hall Center

A telescope links a modern Detroit family to the first Christmas in One Sleepy Night. Grandpa Benny Wilson discovers that his granddaughter Shantelle does not know the Nativity story, and angelic intervention carries the family into it. See the musical at Music Hall Center in Detroit on Saturday, December 5, 2026, at 2:00 PM, with a contemporary Black family offering a personal route into the story of Jesus' birth. Original music anchored in Detroit traditions gives this production its pulse. The original score draws on Detroit's musical traditions to frame the birth of Jesus in a language that feels both reverent and real. Comedy threads through the intergenerational conversations, keeping the stakes human even as the story reaches toward the divine. The collision of modern Detroit and ancient Bethlehem asks a simple question: what happens when a grandfather refuses to let the story die? Shantelle's journey from unknowing to witness offers a way to explore what it means to share a tradition.

Shantelle doesn't know the Christmas story. Grandpa Benny is determined to change that—and the result is far more imaginative than a lesson around the kitchen table. One Sleepy Night uses a telescope, angels and original music to connect a modern Detroit family with the Nativity. Saturday afternoon at Music Hall Center gives families who value the story a fresh way to experience it together. Check seats and let this Detroit-rooted musical bring the tradition to life.