Holidays Ex Machina

Local stages plot to cure your winter discontent.

by Mark Cofta

	print	email	reply	rss feed

Published: Nov 25, 2008

Mark Garvin HAPPILY EVER AFTER: People's Light & Theatre Co.'s family-friendly Cinderella panto is well worth the trip to the 'burbs.

I've often joked that the surest way to theater immortality and wealth would be to write a holiday play that supplants Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Many have tried and none have succeeded, but each holiday season offers an entertainment variety revealing that our culture's holiday spirit — a mythology that Dickens helped create with his 1843 story — continues to thrive on area stages, despite Mother Nature's icy agenda.

First, the family-friendly holiday-themed shows:

A Christmas Carol appears, of course, in two annual productions: Hedgerow Theatre's stalwart adaptation by Nagle Jackson with lots of kids and local choruses adding to the fun, and at Walnut Street Theatre, where Bill Van Horn directs Benjamin Lovell as Scrooge. Younger audiences might not have the patience for Curio Theatre's one-man version of that same play, but I suspect that Jared Reed's intimate homage to Dickens' famous public readings will be the most movingly theatrical of the three.

Not Christmas-y but certainly in the spirit of the season, Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen will be staged with dance, life-size puppets, and lots of magic by Enchantment Theatre Co. Meanwhile the Prince theater veers from its musical mission to present a "live radio play" version of It's a Wonderful Life, "broadcast" live with old-time commercials, live sound effects, an onstage band and a surprisingly strong cast led by Tom McCarthy, Peter Pryor and Jered McLenigan.

A few holiday shows are definitely not for kids:

Flashpoint Theatre Co. reprises the hilarious David Sedaris story of working as a Macy's elf, The Santaland Diaries, starring Derick Loafmann. BCKSEET Productions at the Society Hill Playhouse revives Jeff Goode's The Eight: Reindeer Monologues, a dark comedy about disgruntled sleigh-pullers, for the third consecutive season — and the admission price includes a drink.

Walnut Street Theatre follows last year's Independence Studio on 3 hit Greater Tuna with Joe Sears and Jaston Williams' sequel, A Tuna Christmas, with the same dynamic duo, Benjamin Lloyd and John Zak, who brought the entire wacky Texas town to life before.

Then we have the holiday-season shows that don't mention Christmas at all, but celebrate the season's tidings of joy with family fun:

People's Light & Theatre Co.'s holiday panto has been an incredible success the past four years, and the fifth promises to be the best yet: Cinderella, written by Kathryn Petersen with music and lyrics by Michael Ogborn and directed by Pete Pryor, stars the area's funniest man in a dress, Mark Lazar, as the Fairy Godmother.

Media Theatre's Oliver! brings another inspirational Dickens story to life through song, while the Walnut's Hairspray celebrates teen love, freedom and rock 'n' roll in the Tony Award-winning musical based on John Waters' film. Arden Theatre Co.'s annual children's show brings Roald Dahl's beloved James and the Giant Peach to life.

Adult fare in the holiday spirit includes Judy Gold's 25 Questions for a Jewish Mother at Philadelphia Theatre Co., based on more than 50 interviews with, yes, Jewish mothers. Tony Braithwaite also appeals to matriarchs with Look Mom, I'm Swell, the hyperactive funnyman's solo variety show at Act II Playhouse; and 1812 Productions follows their hilarious election spoof This Is the Week That Is with a new work, Cherry Bomb: The Worst Act in Vaudeville for the Holidays, featuring five fantastic female Philadelphians (and a couple of great guys, too), created by Jennifer Childs with music by James Sugg.

With all this holiday cheer onstage, even Ebeneezer Scrooge could find something to warm his cold, cold heart.

(m_cofta@citypaper.net)

Click here for additional information on the shows mentioned in this piece.

Get Me to the Show on Time
All Smiles
Diamond in the Ruff
One-Two Punch
Tangled Web
Play on, Players
Schmucks
Toni Morrison