All the Old Show Stoppers
This season, local theater companies amp up traditional holiday fare.
Mark Gavin
CHRISTMAS FUTURE: There's nothing Dickensian about The Eight: Reindeer Monologues, Snow White: A Musical Panto or Peter Pan (T-B).
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Holiday theater has been denigrated for its blithe pay-the-bills reliance on A Christmas Carol and other treacly, familiar fare, but a survey of this month's Philadelphia-area offerings reveals many options that hardly feel typical or repetitive — even when they rely on the Dickens classic. Not all December-to-January productions are for kids and family, and most actually don't focus on Christmas at all.
But first, the family options, which start with People's Light & Theatre Co.'s hilarious Snow White: A Musical Panto. Kathryn Petersen and Michael Ogborn's original musical sets the classic fairy tale in 1920s Hollywood with all the English panto conventions they've incorporated into their six-year tradition, like audience participation, the Dame (played by Mark Lazar in a succession of brilliant gowns and hats) and candy for all. Another established holiday tradition for the family, Arden Theatre Co.'s mainstage children's show, returns with Douglas Irvine's new version of J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan, featuring the usually serious Frank X as Captain Hook and a young ensemble led by Pig Iron's Sarah Sanford.
Take the little ones (and all who remember Crockett Johnson's beloved books) to Enchantment Theatre Co.'s The Adventures of Harold and the Purple Crayon, which uses magical movement to tell the precocious scribbler's story; or to Media Theatre, where L. Frank Baum's classic The Wizard of Oz stars Barrymore-winner Kim Carson as Dorothy.
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Walnut Street Theatre offers two family-friendly shows based on Charles Dickens stories: the Broadway hit musical Oliver! starring Hugh Panaro as sinister Fagin, who lures young orphaned Oliver into a life of crime; and their annual production of A Christmas Carol, featuring Benjamin Lovell as Scrooge. The Walnut's Independence Studio offers the third installment of the popular Greater Tuna series, Red, White and Tuna, which affectionately lampoons a small Texas town's rednecks celebrating Independence Day.
Hedgerow Theatre produces its own holiday festival in its cozy country stone building, anchored bythe annual revival of resident playwright Nagle Jackson's venerable adaptation of A Christmas Carol. For younger audiences, Hedgerow offers artistic director Penelope Reed's Tiny Tim's Christmas and James Rodgers' Winnie the Pooh's Holiday Tail. They'll also revive last year's successful production of Nunsense, directed by and starring local Nunsense veteran Micki Sharpe, starting Dec. 30.
Other variations on A Christmas Carol are playing in the region, but the most captivating — though maybe not for little kids — is the second annual run of Curio Theatre Co.'s one-man version, adapted and performed by artistic director Jared Reed (yes, Penelope's son). Through simple, sincere narration and incisive characterizations, Reed reveals the poetry and the look-into-the-abyss existential eeriness of Dickens' original, qualities often muted in larger family productions and Disney films. Curio offers this Christmas-week revival free as a gift to the community.
Adults will also enjoy director Matthew Decker's Dickens-free, nostalgic 1940s jazz club celebration in Theatre Horizon's Holiday Show with the Swing Club Band, a sequel to their toe-tappin' 2007 cabaret that includes two New Year's Eve performances with champagne.
Two annual Christmas productions add some twisted comedy to the season: Bckseet Productions' fourth annual run of Jeff Goode's The Eight: Reindeer Monologues, which imagines Santa's burdened beasts in rebellion against the jolly one's intoxication and sexual advances with an impressive cast of up-and-comers. Flashpoint Theatre Co. co-founder Derick Loafmann returns for his fifth season in The Santaland Diaries, adapted from David Sedaris' hilarious memoir about toiling as a Macy's elf.
Barely mentioning the holiday season at all — as is tradition for their holiday season shows — is premier Philadelphia satirists 1812 Productions' fourth installment of This Is the Week That Is, in which director/co-writer Jennifer Childs and her guys bust balls about both local and national news in a show updated daily.
If truly resistant to — or exhausted by — the holiday season's insistent cheerfulness, consider New City Stage Co.'s powerful revival of Mark Medoff's When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder?, a harrowing hostage drama set in a New Mexico diner without a hint of ho-ho-ho, featuring a bravura performance by Russ Widdall. Or start the new year with the Wilma Theater's Becky Shaw, Gina Gionfriddo's Pulitzer-finalist dark comedy about blind dates gone wrong.
With so many great shows circulating in Philadelphia this season, you'd have to be a major Scrooge to sit at home alone with your gruel. Happy theater-going.
More Information Than You Require
The Adventures of Harold and the Purple Crayon
Ends Jan. 3, $15-$27, Enchantment Theatre at Prince Music Theater, 1412 Chestnut St., 215-893-1999, enchantmenttheatre.org.
Becky Shaw
Dec. 30-Jan. 31, $36-$45, Wilma Theater, 265 S. Broad St., 215-546-7824, wilmatheater.org.
A Christmas Carol (Curio Theatre)
Dec. 21-26, free, 4740 Baltimore Ave., 215-525-1350, curiotheatre.org.
A Christmas Carol (Hedgerow Theatre)
Ends Dec. 27, $20-$25, 64 Rose Valley Road, Media, 610-565-4211, hedgerowtheatre.org.
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A Christmas Carol (Walnut Street Theatre)
Ends Dec. 19, $10-$14, 825 Walnut St., 215-574-3550, walnutstreettheatre.org.
The Eight: Reindeer Monologues
Ends Dec. 23, $25, Bckseet Productions at Society Hill Playhouse, 507 S. Eighth St., 215-923-0210, comcasttix.com.
Holiday Show with the Swing Club Band
Ends Jan. 3, $25-$28, Theatre Horizon, 208 DeKalb St., Norristown, 610-283-2230, theatrehorizon.org.
Nunsense
Dec. 30-Jan. 17, $30, Hedgerow Theatre.
Oliver
Ends Jan. 10, $10-$70, Walnut Street Theatre.
Peter Pan
Ends Jan. 24, $16-$32, Arden Theatre Co., 40 N. Second St., 215-922-1122, ardentheatre.org.
Red, White and Tuna
Ends Jan. 3, $30, Walnut Street Theatre.
The Santaland Diaries
Ends Dec. 20, $12-$18, Flashpoint Theatre at Second Stage at the Adrienne, 2030 Sansom St., 215-665-9720, flashpointtheatre.org.
Snow White: A Musical Panto
Ends Jan. 3, $28-$53, People's Light & Theatre Co., 39 Conestoga Road, Malvern, 610-644-3500, peopleslight.org.
This is the Week that Is: The New Administration
Ends Jan. 3, $25-$35, 1812 Productions at Plays & Players Theatre, 1714 Delancey St., 215-592-9560, 1812productions.org.
Tiny Tim's Christmas/Winnie the Pooh's Holiday Tale
Ends Dec. 26, $9-$11, Hedgerow Theatre.
When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder?
Ends Jan. 10, $22-$25, New City Stage at the Adrienne, 2030 Sansom St., 215-563-7500, newcitystage.org.
The Wizard of Oz
Ends Jan. 10, $36-$42.50, Media Theatre, 45 State St., 610-891-0100, mediatheatre.org.
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