From Sarcastic to Sentimental, Santaland Diaries and Spin-Offs of Nunsense and Forever Plaid Deck the Halls With Holiday Fare
by Martin Brady
- Photo: Harry Butler
- Elf Indulgent Matt Chiorini as Crumpet in The Santaland Diaries
Two of Nashville's busiest theaters get into the holiday spirit in divergent ways—bitingly sardonic vs. sincerely sentimental.
Tennessee Rep's The Santaland Diaries marks the return of noted actor Matt Chiorini to the stage where he made his local debut back in 1999, before he went on to become artistic director at the progressive People's Branch Theatre. Now plying his trade with the Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre, Chiorini retains all the skills—confidence, glibness, an easy showmanship—to play the antihero of David Sedaris' popular one-act: an effete, occupationally challenged slacker turned recalcitrant Macy's Christmas elf.
Chiorini nails the bitchy-sophisticate plaint of Sedaris' doppelganger, recalling the cash-strapped season that forced the author's temporary employ as Crumpet the Elf. Presuming he'd flunk the drug test ("my urine has roaches and stems floating in it"), our antihero surprises himself when welcomed to the Macy's team. The gig brings him into close contact with fellow elves and various Santas, "deformed and sick kids," white parents who want to avoid the African American Santa, and customers whose low-class mind-sets offend his sensibilities.
The actor performed this role previously at the Rep, and he's as comfortable in it as a nut in fruitcake. Not merely content to inhabit Sedaris' dry and droll character, Chiorini exploits the show's interactive possibilities. Audience members get berated for arriving late: "I'm not going back to the beginning," he huffs. But they just as easily become Chiorini's fast temporary friends, and his spirit of improvisation and observant spontaneity keep the oft-performed piece fresh.
Under the direction of David Alford, himself a former Crumpet, Chiorini sarcastically details his diverse assignments ("forcing children into Santa's lap at knifepoint"), issues the occasional strategic expletive, muses devilishly on the fact that "Santa" is an anagram for "Satan," and decries the consumerist hell that is Macy's on Christmas Eve. In so doing, he makes Santaland a 90-minute antidote to Yuletide saccharine and forced seasonal gaiety. Adult theatergoers who appreciate a little rotgut in their eggnog shouldn't miss Chiorini's wicked solo turn.
On the other hand, if you prefer your Christmas pudding with extra corn, Boiler Room Theatre lays it on thick with two shows currently running in repertory.
Nuncrackers is author-composer Dan Goggin's adaptation of his unsinkable Nunsense formula to the holidays. Once again, the silly sisters work their wimples off to entertain the faithful at Hoboken's Mount St. Helen's parish, this time staging a cable-access Christmas special.
Here the vid cam rolls as Reverend Mother Mary Regina (Sondra Morton-Chaffin) leads her charges through more than 20 musical numbers, mostly comic originals plus some parodies of traditional carols. There are sight gags, a Julia Child lampoon, a Village People sighting, a nun kick-line, plus goofy gift items for audience members (a Ten Commandments magnet, Polish greeting cards, etc.).
Corbin Green directs, and there are some legit laughs here. But overall the writing is tepid, and without the musical comedy brilliance of Megan Murphy the show would hardly sustain much beyond the occasional chuckle. The Nov. 25 performance seen for review marked the final appearance of American Idol's Melinda Doolittle as Sister Mary Hubert (now being played by Mary Bea Johnson). Doolittle did relatively little throughout, until finally handling the big 11 o'clock spot, "It's Better to Give Than Receive," with the soulful warmth that earned her national fandom on the highly rated Fox talent show.
The second BRT offering, Plaid Tidings, is also a spin-off, inspired by creator-compiler Stuart Ross' Forever Plaid. That longtime community-theater staple weds a melancholy conceptual theme to a buoyant musical spirit characterized by 1950s-style four-part harmonies.
The Forever Plaid setup concerns a quartet of clean-cut singers from Pennsylvania who are killed in an auto accident on their way to a gig, then are granted the heavenly chance to perform the concert that fate disallowed. In this seasonal serving of checked party mix, they return to put on a holiday show.
The foursome—Mike Baum, Alan Smith, Joshua Jonas Tucker and Sloan Yarborough—tackle more than 30 old chestnuts. Most are seasonal favorites, though via numerous medleys we also get a dose of bygone pop and Broadway hits such as "Sh-Boom," "Besame Mucho," "Stranger in Paradise" and "Day-O."
Clad in tuxes with plaid dinner jackets, the players work determinedly through one doo-wop number after another, plus a humorously choreographed West Side Story dance, a strikingly well-executed bit of instrumental-only bell-ringing, and an exceedingly nostalgic walk through a video snippet from an old Perry Como TV special.
The actor-singers, under Laura Skaug's direction, in fact achieve a great deal here: They handily pull off wildly diverse material and challenging, tightly arranged vocals, an admirable feat in itself. They're not helped, however, by the thin text that frames the numbers, which provides little to creatively buffer the one-song-after-another approach. Yet even if the proceedings skew at times toward monotony, the ultimate effect is of good cheer and a fond recollection of the not-too-distant past. As holiday diversion goes, it beats standing in line at Macy's, waiting for a turn in Santa's lap.
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