Felicia P. Fields and cast/ Photo: Liz Lauren

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Borrowing the template from “Ragtime” of having well-known historical characters musically interact with fictional characters representative of various classes of American society, “A Civil War Christmas: An American Musical Celebration” attempts to use the holiday season as a nostalgic look back, warts and all, at our conflicted soul-searching as a nation at the climax of its greatest national crisis. The scenario for Paula Vogel’s play—receiving its Chicago premiere from Northlight Theatre—is Washington, D.C. on Christmas Eve, 1864, when General Sherman gave President Lincoln the captured city of Savannah, Georgia as a Christmas present.

The show cleverly uses the African-American experience on both sides of the conflict as a means to look at ourselves in the mirror with the clear adage that the more things change, the more they stay the same. The scene of an escaped slave and her daughter finally arriving at the bridge across the Potomac only to be turned back by Union soldiers because the city already has enough of “her kind” could come right out of today’s headlines. Read the rest of this entry »

Peggy Roeder, Amy Matheny/Photo: Michael Brosilow

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Small-town life may be small, but it’s rarely simple; that’s what they discover in Budapest (pronounced boo-DA-pest), Illinois as the members of the local women’s club decorate their float for the town holiday parade.

It’s a motley crew. Doodee (Wendy Robie) is the town doer; she’s the first to help, but the first to judge. Char (Rengin Altay) is a divorced real estate agent in need of a change; Arletta (Peggy Roeder) is the small-minded busybody, and Luce (Amy Matheny) and Marty (Adrianne Cury) are two women attempting to take their attraction to the next level.

Patricia Kane’s script has tone changes that strain credibility; Luce is reluctant to embrace a lesbian relationship but becomes Don Juanita by the second act. But Kane’s punchy dialogue and surprising twists keep you entertained and rooting for her characters. Leslie Buxbaum Danzig’s fluid direction keeps the tight ensemble sparking. It’s a fun, far-from-silent night. (Lisa Buscani)

About Face Theatre at Theater Wit, 1229 West Belmont, (773)975-8150. Through December 12.

Carla Kessler/Photo: Michael Brosilow

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The House’s remount of their successful 2007 holiday show is a very loose adaptation of ETA Hoffman’s classic story “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King,” and yet its prologue is still almost ironically evocative of the Tchaikovsky ballet. Cheerful dancing around the Christmas tree turns to tragedy, however, when news arrives of the son’s death at war. A year later, no Christmas party almost means no Christmas, until a surprise visit from Uncle Drosselmeyer, with a gift for Clara of a nutcracker that looks like her brother, upsets the somber balance of the household. The adaptation by company members Phillip C. Klapperich and Jake Minton cleverly psychologizes the tale, spinning the magical battle against darkness and Rat Kings as one against childhood grief and family wounds. The brisk, lively staging never lets you linger on such heavy thoughts for too long, but the actors all have great fun with each other, with the script, and with the audience. You’ll believe in magic again. (Neal Ryan Shaw)

The House Theatre of Chicago at the Chopin Theater, 1543 West Division, (773)251-2195. Through December 26.

Jim Sherman and Laney Kraus-Taddeo/Photo: Michael Brosilow

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Yes, Virginia, there is a musical version of “Miracle on 34th Street.”  It is called “Here’s Love” and was written by Meredith Wilson of “The Music Man” fame, and in newer versions is sometimes called “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” since Wilson also wrote that classic Christmas song and it was used in revivals.  Oddly, none of the material from the original 1963 Broadway musical nor its revivals are featured in what is being billed as Porchlight Musical Theatre’s “musical” adaptation of “Miracle on 34th Street.”  “Musical,” in this case, simply means that fragments of a handful of Christmas carols are distractingly used as scene-changing transitions, usually sung in unison by cast members karaoke style to canned accompaniment with varying degrees of successful synchronization.

However, aside from that considerable caveat, the show is delightful. This is a story that works wonderfully well as a live theatrical experience since the audience, as it were, ends up acting almost in notary fashion for the proceedings, which as lovers of the classic 1947 film or its remakes know, climaxes in a courtroom. Along with the judge, it is we who end up deciding whether or not “Kris Kringle” is the real deal or a lunatic.  As played by veteran Chicago actor Jim Sherman—without whom it would be impossible to imagine all of this working—we are totally taken in. Sherman’s entrance as part of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is handled with great fanfare and when he takes the stage, he is irresistible. Read the rest of this entry »

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Hell in a Handbag kinks up the holidays with its parody of the Rankin/Bass classic. This Christmas universe features a twist or two: Santa’s a profit-mad bastard, the Mrs. is a lush, all the elves are gay and  Rudolph’s  a sweet transvestite.

The  Mary’s Attic stage doesn’t give the fifteen-person ensemble much room to shine, but the performers make do. Newcomer  Alex Grelle rocks Rudolph’s red fishnets, which get him kicked out of the reindeer games. Jennifer Shine is punk-tastic as Clarice, Rudolph’s BFF/love interest(?). Christopher  Walsh brings the nerd as Herbie, the homosexually challenged, dentist wanna-be elf, and Ed Jones is a giggle as the pickled Mrs. Claus.

David Cerda’s book contradicts itself; it questions gay stereotypes yet perpetuates them, and his sexual innuendos are none too subtle. No matter. The numbers are fun, and the singing and dancing chops are strong. It’s the antidote for a humbug holiday. (Lisa Buscani)

“Rudolph the Red Hosed Reindeer” plays at  Hell in a Handbag Productions at Mary’s Attic, 5400 W. Clark, (800)838-3006, through January 2.

Andrew Carter, Ashley Bishop, Gary Houston, Kevin R. Kelley and John Mohrlein/Photo: The Stage Channel

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Creating a dramatic story to celebrate the spirit of Christmas is far more challenging than it seems. It’s far too easy to try and simply trade on the cloying sweetness of hackneyed sentimentality (see the annual rollout of made-for-TV movies), rather than to construct something that evokes the seasonal themes in a manner that warms the heart and pleases the brain. That’s why most new theater works tend to parody the tropes of the holidays; warm and fuzzy Christmas seems like an old-fashioned notion that belongs to our grandparents. Even  putting a twist on a classic can fail. Count me among those who can recite lines from the Frank Capra film “It’s A Wonderful Life” and who finds himself sobbing at the ending every time. When Porchlight did a musical version a couple years back, I expected to love it but instead found it quite disappointing. So I went to see the American Blues Theater’s production of “It’s A Wonderful Life: Live at the Biograph!” with some measure of apprehension. I left marveling at their creation of perfect Christmas theater. Read the rest of this entry »

Rick Kubes/Photo: Emily Johnston Anderson

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ATC’s holiday perennial blooms again, transporting audiences to the forties and the Golden Age of Radio. Its news reports, dedications and re-creation of Frank Capra’s classic make for poignant, gentle entertainment.

The ensemble’s impressive vocal dexterity enables it to handle the multiple castings with aplomb; Bernard Balbot gives Mel Blanc a run for his money. Rick Kubes’ on-time Foley work enhances the production’s retro feel, no mean feat. Kareem Bandealy and Mary Winn Heider have the thankless task of assuming roles Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed  cornered, yet they manage to capture the love and humor that bind the couple.

It’s a shame the schism between ATC and the majority of its ensemble members has created double productions and competition for audience. The best gifts both groups could give us would be to rise above their differences and get back to the strenuous blessing of creating art. (Lisa Buscani)

“It’s A Wonderful Life” plays at American Theater Company, 1909 W. Byron, (773)409-4125. Through December 27.

RECOMMENDED

Even the most merry among us can stand a bit of humbug, especially when it’s delivered with the upoarious laughter inherent in David Sedaris’ “SantaLand Diaries.” The essay, a memoir of the author’s bizarre experience working in Macy’s SantaLand one New York Christmas, was Sedaris’ breakthrough when he read it on NPR back in 1992. Theater Wit has been producing the stage adaptation in Chicago as its holiday show for the last six years, three of those years with Mitchell Fain starring in the one-man family-unfriendly show as the misanthropic Macy’s elf, and they’ve got it down cold. Fain, diminutive and elfin himself, prances around the stage, cocktail in hand, delivering Sedaris’ bon mots with hilarious precision, even ad-libbing with the audience in character. Good luck trying to resist Fain’s charms, as he describes “one of the most frightening career opportunities I had ever come across” with kids who pee in the store’s artificial snow, the handlebar-mustachioed elf who delusionally thinks he’s a real ladies man and the co-worker so cheerful she asks if she can wear her costume home. In fact, if you’re not careful, you might even end up feeling downright cheerful yourself. (Brian Hieggelke)

Theater Wit’s “The Santaland Diaries” plays at Theatre Building Chicago, 1225 W. Belmont, (773)327-5252, TheaterWit.org through January 2. $24.

Penelope Walker, John Babbo and Caroline Heffernan/Photo: Liz Lauren

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“I pay him a just wage,” defends Larry Yando’s Scrooge to the Ghost of Christmas Present (Penelope Walker) as the pair is eavesdropping on the Cratchits’ meager holiday feast which Tiny Tim (John Babbo) alone could easily devour in a single swoop.  “What is a just wage?” retorts the Ghost.  “What the market will bear,” says Scrooge.  And there you have it: Ebenezer Scrooge is a Republican.

It is easy to forget that Charles Dickens wrote “A Christmas Carol” primarily as an attack on self-righteous Victorian social justice, but with the entire country embroiled in a bitter debate about who actually “deserves” healthcare among the millions who cannot afford it this holiday season, lines such as “Are you to decide who is to live and die?” and “If they would rather die, let them do so and decrease the surplus population,” resonate with biting sting as more socially relevant than ever.  Ironically, Dickens’ challenge to the heart of the heartlessness of his own era helped set England on a trajectory towards national healthcare, which means Tiny Tim would get the treatment that he needs today in England, though not in America. Read the rest of this entry »

Najwa Brown

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The Church of Scientology is back in the news, with recent French fraud charges and acrimony among high-profile members like director Paul Haggis and John Travolta. It’s also back onstage in this Red Orchid remount detailing the life and teachings of founder L. Ron Hubbard, as performed by children.

A Red Orchid’s Youth Ensemble brings more professionalism to the material than many adults on the scene today; their high-energy performances thankfully avoid the saccharine quality that can be some young actors’ stock in trade. Kudos to Adam Rebora and Najwa Brown for inventive work in very sophisticated material.  Steve Wilson’s competent direction keeps things hopping; Kyle Jarrow’s book and lyrics are sly and funny.

A sharp satire, the piece remains respectful of people’s search for answers; it deftly examines the reasons why many seek solace in Scientology’s sci-fi dog and pony show. It’s a very grown-up approach indeed. (Lisa Buscani)

“A Very Merry Unauthorized Children’s Scientology Pageant” plays at A Red Orchid Theatre, 1531 North Wells, (312)943-8722, through January 17.