Playbills Ring, Are You Listening?

A winter wonderland of theater, from Dickens to Sedaris and beyond.

by Mark Cofta

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Published: Nov 23, 2010

[ holiday theater ]

Holiday theater may start inevitably with A Christmas Carol, but it certainly doesn't have to end there. If Scrooge is what you're after, the Charles Dickens classic plays in various forms all over the area, most notably in family-friendly adaptations at the Walnut Street and Hedgerow theatres, but also as a musical, Scrooged, at New Jersey's Ritz Theatre. My favorite — especially for adults — is Jared Reed's one-man interpretation, ironically re-titled (given that it's the most faithful to Dickens) A Dickens Christmas, also playing at Hedgerow.

Beyond Dickens, December theater falls into two broad categories: shows that celebrate or satirize Christmas, and those that barely reference it at all.

Foremost among the former must be the Walnut Street's mainstage production of Irving Berlin's White Christmas. The title song alone sells the show, but those who recall the 1954 Bing Crosby/Danny Kaye film (if not, catch its 97,000 cable broadcasts this season) know it's not only a cute love story, but a tearjerker about friendship and loyalty.

While the world waits for a new take on Christmas that works as well as It's a Wonderful Life (strangely absent from stages this season), lots of shows provide holiday humor. Flashpoint Theatre Co. brings back David Sedaris' The Santaland Diaries, starring Derick Loafmann as Crumpet, a cranky Macy's elf. Theatre Horizon and Fringe Festival maniacs The Berserker Residents première a family-friendly creation, The Very Merry Xmas Carol Holiday Adventure Show, about a trio of would-be heroes (snowman, red-nosed reindeer and London-town gent) battling the villainous Xmas, who threatens to devour all Christmas tales and the very spirit of the holiday itself. Frankford's Walking Fish Theatre also features a new work, A Fractured Christmas Carol, created collaboratively by professional actors and young performers. The show is directed by Michelle Pauls, who helmed the Fish's Barrymore Award-winning educational production, Of Mythic Proportions.

Foremost among the shows not referencing yuletide glee is People's Light & Theatre Co.'s seventh annual panto, The Three Musketeers (The Later Years), written by Kathryn Petersen, directed by Peter Pryor, with music and lyrics by Michael Ogborn. PLTC's unique form of the traditional British panto features songs, silliness, lots of audience participation and a great cast — Pryor as the villain, Mark Lazar as Queen Agnes of Malvaria and Barrymore Award-winner Kim Carson.

The Arden Theatre Co.'s annual children's play brings Mary Norton's beloved novels The Borrowers, about tiny people living under a family's floorboards, to the stage in Charles Way's adaptation, directed by Whit MacLaughlin and starring Bi Jean Ngo.

Back at the busy Walnut Street Theatre, in the Independence Studio on 3, is another great cast in the première of Frank Ferrante's musical Caesar's Palace O' Fun, which has nothing to do with casinos, emperors or salads; Caesar is Ferrante's stage alter ego, notorious in San Francisco and Seattle from his cirque show Teatro ZinZanni. Barrymore Award-winner Jennie Eisenhower co-stars.

Don't be fooled by the title Dublin Carol; Conor McPherson's December-set drama, receiving its area première from Amaryllis Theatre Co., is set in a funeral home and is reminiscent of his spooky The Weir. New City Stage Co. begins a three-play season examining suicide among women with the Philadelphia première of Christopher Durang's dark comedy Miss Witherspoon, featuring the always-mesmerizing Julie Czarnecki in the title role as a suicide lost in the afterlife.

Several short runs deserve mention, too: At Trenton's Passage Theatre, Jeffrey Solomon performs his one-man comedy Santa Claus Is Coming Out, Nov. 27 and 28. The Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium again teams with satirical news source The Onion for a new Raw Onion installment of monologues, Winter Onionland, for three performances on Dec. 5. On Dec. 11, physical theater performers Tribe of Fools present their Christmas cabaret, Bare-Knuckle Burlesque, billed as "everything you want in a burlesque show and probably a few things that you don't."

Finally, Lantern Theater Co. gives the gift of Anthony Lawton in Between Heaven and Hell, three of his terrific one-man shows in repertory: C.S. Lewis' The Great Divorce, Shel Silverstein's The Devil and Billy Markham and the accomplished actor's own Heresy, detailing his teenage struggles to reconcile his strict Catholicism with his red-blooded-American-male urges. For all whose holidays need an extra dose of religion and/or sex.

(m_cofta@citypaper.net)

Makin' a List

Bare-Knuckle Burlesque Dec. 11, $10, Tribe of Fools at the Adrienne, 2030 Sansom St., 215-284-1178, tribeoffools.org.

Between Heaven and Hell: The Anthony Lawton Festival Dec. 3-19, $25-$35, Lantern Theater Co., 923 Ludlow St., 215-829-0395, lanterntheater.org.

The Borrowers Dec. 1-Jan. 30, $16-$32, Arden Theatre Co., 40 N. Second St., 215-922-1122, ardentheatre.org.

Caesar's Palace O' Fun Nov. 23-Jan. 2, $30, Walnut Street Theatre, 825 Walnut St., 215-574-3550, walnutstreettheatre.org.

A Christmas Carol Dec. 4-18, $12-$14, Walnut Street Theatre.

A Christmas Carol Dec. 3-26, $20-$25, Hedgerow Theatre, 64 Rose Valley Road, Media, 610-565-4211, hedgerowtheatre.org.

A Dickens Christmas Nov. 26-Dec. 12, $20-$25, Hedgerow Theatre.

Dublin Carol Dec. 8-19, $10, Amaryllis Theatre Co. at the Adrienne, 215-564-2431, amaryllistheatre.org.

A Fractured Christmas Carol Dec. 11-30, $5-$8, Walking Fish Theatre, 2509 Frankford Ave., 215-427-9255, walkingfishtheatre.com.

Miss Witherspoon Dec. 9-Jan. 9, $20-$22, New City Stage Co. at the Adrienne, 215-563-7500, newcitystage.org.

Raw Onion: Winter Onionland Dec. 5 at 6, 8 and 10 p.m., $20, Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium, L'Etage, 624 S. Sixth St., 215-285-0472, idiopathicridiculopathyconsortium.org.

Santa Claus Is Coming Out Nov. 27-28, $20, Mill Hill Playhouse, 205 E. Front St., Trenton, N.J., 609-392-0766, passagetheatre.org.

The Santaland Diaries Dec. 1-19, $10-$20, Flashpoint Theatre Co., Second Stage at the Adrienne, 215-665-9720, flashpointtheatre.org.

Scrooged Dec. 9-19, $15-$18, The Ritz Theatre, 915 White Horse Pike, Oaklyn, N.J., 856-858-5230, ritztheatreco.org.

The Three Musketeers (The Later Years) Through Jan. 9, $35-$45, People's Light & Theatre Co., 39 Conestoga Road, Malvern, 610-644-3500, peopleslight.org.

The Very Merry Xmas Carol Holiday Adventure Show Dec. 9-31, $22-$37, Centre Theatre, 208 DeKalb St., Norristown, 610-283-2230, theatrehorizon.org.

White Christmas Through Jan. 9, $65-$130, Walnut Street Theatre.

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