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Austin Colburn, Marco Camacho and Lauren Salazar in A Charlie Brown Christmas at Queensbury Theatre. Credit: Alexander Cross<\/p>\nIrving Berlin\u2019s White Christmas<\/p>\n
If you were anywhere near Broadway in 1954 and hankering for a good musical, you might have caught the final weeks of Rodgers and Hammerstein\u2019s smash hit South Pacific, or a revival of that team\u2019s Carousel at City Center. Also on your full plate would have been Peter Pan with Mary Martin and Cyril Ritchard, the almost all-black House of Flowers by Harold Arlen and Truman Capote, the flops of Hazel Flagg and The Girl in Pink Tights, the highs of The Pajama Game, the underappreciated The Golden Apple, the jaunty The Boy Friend with the as-yet undiscovered talent of Julie Andrews.<\/p>\n
Not on the list, but it should have been, is the David Ives and Paul Blake adaptation (2000) of the 1954 cult Christmas movie, White Christmas, with Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, and Vera Ellen with its grab-bag classic Great American Songbook score from Irving Berlin, now titled Irving Berlin\u2019s White Christmas.<\/p>\n
This musical is so old-fashioned it seems positively new. There are no dysfunctional family secrets, no satire of anything, but plain misconstrued romance to put right at the finale, some patriotic fervor, and periodic hoofing to keep one entertained \u2013 or from falling asleep. Scenes are played \u201cin one,\u201d or in front of the curtain so set pieces behind can be arranged for the next reveal, like the staging of many \u201850 shows before the director and designer realized that transitions should flow quickly, instantly, like a movie.<\/p>\n
What is novel in this Theatre Under the Stars production is Drew Redington\u2019s portrayal of Phil, the Danny Kaye role. What a natural song-and-dance man. Redington taps his feet off in some blistering numbers staged by Kristyn Pope.<\/p>\n
With astonishing verve and talent, Redington puts these dances across like a combo of Hermes Pan and Fred Astaire, smooth, graceful, show-stopping. We\u2019d watch him anytime. Look at \u201cThe Best Things Happen While You\u2019re Dancing,\u201d with partner Karli Dinardo, as Judy, the Vera Ellen role. They waltz, skip, tap themselves across the dance floor, soft as butter. Or better yet, the \u201cI Love a Piano\u201d spectacular in dazzling black and white with piano keys appliqued up his pants\u2019 leg and the chorines\u2019 short skirts edged with the same motif. This all-out breathless number stops the show, as it should. Redington commands the stage and is well worth the price of admission.<\/p>\n
In the Crosby role of Bob, Jarran Muse croons like that superstar singer of yesterday, but seems curiously absent on stage. There\u2019s nary a spark of interest between him and Betty (Courtney Markowitz, she of the beautiful voice), so their on-and-off again romance falls flat. If he doesn\u2019t care, why should we? He might have had an off night, but his voice was perfection, lilting and smooth. In supporting roles, Carolyn Johnson, a Houston favorite, is sassy aide-de-camp to the irascible yet lovable retired General played by Kevin Cooney, another Houston pro. They add needed comic relief. Johnson gets to show off her pipes and Broadway savvy in Berlin\u2019s oldie (written for Al Jolson in 1930), \u201cLet Me Sing and I\u2019m Happy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The most iconic sequence in the movie is the sultry \u201cLove You Didn\u2019t Do Right By Me,\u201d sung by Clooney in a black velvet dress cantilevered like a Frank Lloyd house, surrounded by sinuous, fawning chorus boys. Markowitz makes a definite impression too. In the show\u2019s most gorgeous set (all conjured by Anna Louizos) takes place in a New York nightclub from your dreams encased in drapery with a classical portal behind, where Betty sings her torch song after she has fled the country inn because of an epic misunderstanding with Bob. He chases her back to Manhattan and doubles her on Berlin\u2019s plaintive \u201cHow Deep is the Ocean.\u201d The sparks still don\u2019t fly, but the duet is exceptional.<\/p>\n
Directed with a sure hand by TUTS\u2019 Associate Artistic Director Mitchell Greco, this old-time musical is graced by Berlin\u2019s timeless melodies from every era, ending with his most iconic, best loved, and most recorded song ever, the evergreen \u201cWhite Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n
If you forget the hoary jokes larded in by Black and Ives which refuse to land, you\u2019ll snap into the right mood for the holiday with the energetic tap routines and the exceptional choral singing. What is truly amazing is the size of the orchestra under the direction of pro Broadway maestro Henry Aronson. Twenty-one musicians! which is positively unheard of these days for any show, on Broadway or on tour. Granted the orchestra is amplified, but the sheer lushness is so welcomed. Berlin, of course, doesn\u2019t need any help, but his songs positively glow in these rich-sounding orchestrations.<\/p>\n
Irving Berlin\u2019s White Christmas continues through December 24 at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays and Sundays; 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; and 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays at the Hobby Center, 800 Bagby. For more information, call 713-558-8887 or visit tuts.org. $52-$173.<\/p>\n
Austin Colburn, Marco Camacho and Lauren Salazar in A Charlie Brown Christmas at Queensbury Theatre. Credit: Alexander Cross<\/p>\n
A Charlie Brown Christmas<\/p>\n
What an absolute delight from Queensbury Theatre.<\/p>\n
Eric Schaeffer\u2019s 2013 stage adaptation of the classic animated TV special from Charles Schulz, Bill Melendez, and Lee Mendelson, with its jazz score by Vince Guaraldi (1965) receives a hearty, heart-warming production that should be required viewing for young and old. That it is populated by some of the finest young performers in Houston, this all-singing, all-dancing simple show not only is testament to the Christmas spirit but also to the immense performing talent from these artists.<\/p>\n
Divided in two parts, this 90-minute show, replicates the cartoon in the first half, then employs an Encore Song List where the actors, still in character, perform a few standard carols \u2013 \u201cCarol of the Bells,\u201d \u201cChristmas Canon,\u201d O Holy Night\u201d \u2013 then go for broke with modern Christmas standards \u2013 \u201cBaby, Please Come Home;\u201d \u201cHave Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,\u201d \u201cWhite Christmas\u201d (naturally), \u201cFeliz Navidad,\u201d \u201cAll I Want for Christmas,\u201d \u201cWe Wish You A Merry Christmas,\u201d and other contemporary pop hits.<\/p>\n
This Encore section is all fireworks, exceptionally sung by all and choreographed with tongue-in-cheek perfection by Bethany White, last year\u2019s Houston Theater Award winner for her work on Queensbury\u2019s Wizard of Oz. If possible, she has only gotten better. Watch the be-bop boy backup group who accompany Lucy (the phenomenal Lauren Salazar, \u201cqueen of the high Cs\u201d) as she wails through \u201cBaby, Please Come Home.\u201d They sway in syncopation while they strut, snapping their fingers. At the end, they hold out Salazar\u2019s makeshift cloak, waving it like she were Elpheba in \u201cDefying Gravity\u201d from Wicked, while they hand her a cane as broomstick. Perfection and comedy gold.<\/p>\n
Everyone in the cast is a tremendous triple-threat: they sing, dance, and act like it\u2019s second nature.<\/p>\n
Watch Austin Colburn, as Linus. As magnificent as he was in Queensbury\u2019s two-hander The Last Five Years, who knew he could belt out \u201cAll I Want for Christmas\u201d and put Maria Carey to shame. Holy blanket, what a performance! And Collins Rush, as a showbiz Snoopy, stops the show repeatedly with his antics, furious dancing, and a rollicking rendition of \u201cFeliz Navidad,\u201d in which the entire company joins in on triangle, drum, maracas, and one strange miniature electronic piano (?) that music director and arranger Jonathan Craft added to the mix.<\/p>\n
Others in the fine cast include: Austin Brady as Pig-Pen, exuding his cloud of dust, but crooning with Rush on a cool Drifters\u2019 version of \u201cWhite Christmas.\u201d Kerri Whitton, as Sally, performs Kelly Clarkson\u2019s anthem \u201cUnderneath the Tree,\u201d while her own backup boys strut their stuff on cue; Camryn Nunlet, as Shermy, who duets soulfully with Kahlil Cable, as Franklin, on \u201cThis Christmas;\u201d and young Elinor Smith, as a spry Woodstock, has her own chorus of Peanuts (Tribble School students), all dressed in canary yellow by costumer Leah Smith. Her choices are spot-on.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And then there\u2019s Marco Camacho as blockhead Charlie Brown. How perfect is he? When he\u2019s depressed at the beginning of the show, his entire body slumps, when everyone laughs at that pitiable scrawny tree he brings back for the pageant, his face falls two-stories. He\u2019s marvelously rumpled and naive yet always indefatigable. He\u2019s determined to find the true meaning of Christmas. When Linus recites the Annunciation from the King James Bible, in his own spotlight (\u201cHit me,\u201d he yells to the stage manager), this little show kicks it up a notch. While Charlie denounces the commercialism of Christmas (Lucy asks for real estate; sister Sally has him write a greedy screed to Santa), he finally sees the light. And he gets to sing his favorite holiday song, \u201cMy Favorite Things\u201d from The Sound of Music. No young Salzburg postulant could sing it with deeper feeling. (Linus\u2019 dramatic reading almost axed the show. The CBS execs were worried that such naked religiosity would sink the project. God in a kiddie cartoon, no way. But Schulz was adamant, and either that scene stayed in or he walked. The scene stayed in, and it perfectly captures the show\u2019s subtext.)<\/p>\n
Directed with a simple purity by Kristina Sullivan of Music Box Theater fame, the entire show glides along with cleverness and lithe little touches, such as the trio of Violet, Patty, and Frieda (Darby Kingman, Zoe Temple, and Sloane Teagle \u2013 all magnificent singers \u2013 who hide behind the cartoon wall and pop up to serenade Schroeder (Kaleb Womack) with drawings of Beethoven wearing a Santa hat. \u201cThis is for you, Ludwig,\u201d Schroeder shouts before he roars through \u201cPlease Come Home.\u201d Or the audition scene for the school play where everybody, as in A Chorus Line, turns over their head shot which reveals a \u201cPeanuts\u201d cartoon of their character. Brilliant. There are fun little touches like this throughout which lifts the humor, ups the ante in the child-like glee of performing, and showcases the showbiz factor that weaves effortlessly in and out.<\/p>\n
The musical trio (arranger and music director Jonathan Craft, piano; Andrew Moritz, bass; and Luke Hubley, drums) plays Guaraldi\u2019s jazz-infused score and the \u201cEncore List\u201d with exuberant swing and gusto. Seated on stage, they sound almost orchestral. Let\u2019s not forget the vibrant comic strip sets by Casey Kearns which look like they were designed by Schulz himself.<\/p>\n
Have yourself a merry little Christmas and go see this magical show with its ultra-spirited performers. It\u2019s the best present in town.<\/p>\n
A Charlie Brown Christma continues through December 21 at 7 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays at Queensbury Theatre, 12777 Queensbury Lane. For more information, call 713-467-4497 or visit queensburytheatre.org. $28-$53.<\/p>\n
The Twelve Dates of Christmas<\/p>\n
The holiday charm offensive is in full swing at Stages with Ginna Hoben\u2019s The Twelves Dates of Christmas. Buoyant and cheerful, this comedy chronicles a year in the dating life of Mary who\u2019s been recently dumped by her fianc\u00e9.<\/p>\n
Watching the Macy\u2019s Thanksgiving Day parade on TV from her family home in Ohio, Mary sees him kissing another woman, after he had made excuses for not being with Mary on the holiday. Incensed and then terribly depressed, she needs \u201cto love Christmas\u201d \u2013 and, more importantly, find another boyfriend. So begins her year-long journey through one-night stands, maybe lovers, potential husbands, stalkers, and wanna-bes. None pan out except the one love at the end, a five-year-old actor who declares her to be his girlfriend.<\/p>\n
Hoben\u2019s script is a tame paint-by-numbers adventure, but made delectable and winning by the radiant performance of Jamie Rezanour. She imparts to this play every subtlety that Hoben overstates or drums into us. Her stage presence is undeniable, and the sympathetic audience is with her every step of the way. Listen to them \u201cooh\u201d and \u201cahh\u201d over Mary\u2019s constant disappointments, easy betrayals, and missteps. The Sunday matinee premiere audience was invested wholeheartedly in her story, even though they\u2019ve probably heard this tale many times before in countless rom-coms and Hallmark Christmas specials. They, too, were invested in her future happiness.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the power that Rezanour possesses so effortlessly in this one-woman show. She\u2019s an \u201cEveryman\u201d who\u2019s been disappointed in love or received a Dear John letter or, nowadays, an email ghosting.<\/p>\n
Mary wants stability, a lover, a family before her biological clock ticks down. Is that so impossible a wish? Why can\u2019t she be just like Julia Roberts or Reese Witherspoon in those slick romance movies where the happy ending is just an hour-and-a-half away? Where is that perfect man? He\u2019s got to be out there somewhere. To find the one, she muses, you have to go through 125 jackasses.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Aunt Kathy knows what\u2019s the matter. \u201cYou ain\u2019t dead, just desperate,\u201d she announces at her holiday eggnog party. Mom, you see, has told busybody Kathy all about Mary\u2019s dating problems, and Kathy, after too many glasses of her potent punch, will set her up. What could go wrong?<\/p>\n
So begins Mary\u2019s quest. There\u2019s an ideal pediatric doctor who conveniently forgets to tell her that he is seeing a colleague, who then shows up at their intimate dinner date and berates the forlorn doctor as \u201cpig, rat, dog,\u201d and other unmentionables. He\u2019s the first to go, although the woman and Mary bond. \u201cI lost a doctor, but I gained Maggie,\u201d she boasts. Next is pro chef Edward, who takes control of every moment of their dates, which is too much even for desperate Mary. \u201cI put him on lay-a-way,\u201d she quips to the supportive hoots and hollers of the audience. During St. Patrick\u2019s Day, there\u2019s a young attractive Irish bartender, Brian O\u2019Reilly, who catches her eye, but he violates rule No. 5 of her Personal Policy: Never date anyone who\u2019s ass is smaller than yours. And also Personal Policy No. 6: Don\u2019t date anyone ten years younger, or ten years older. The rules fly out the window with a feverish one-night stand. In afterglow, Mary rolls on the floor like a contented puppy.<\/p>\n
Other guys follow, all contenders until they\u2019re not. Aunt Kathy keeps insisting that she\u2019s praying for her, which causes a family feud. There\u2019s a coffee shop stalker, a waiter\/guitarist who suddenly announces he\u2019s moving to the Czech Republic, then an acting job in a production of A Christmas Carol as The Ghost of Christmas Past. Mary\u2019s so despondent, the cast calls her the Ghost of Christmas Pissed.<\/p>\n
With each failed romance, Mary places an ornament on her Christmas tree: a pair of handcuffs for the stalker, a guitar for the musician, even her silver snowflake tiara as the Ghost. But she is reclaimed, if you will, by the boy who plays Tiny Tim. His mom left years ago, and the father is in over his head raising him alone. Because she\u2019s not in the second act, she becomes the boy\u2019s backstage mom, and her bond with him is stronger and more fulfilling than any of the men who\u2019ve come before.<\/p>\n
In a very satisfying ending, she accepts a New Year\u2019s date with the boy and his father. We\u2019re left hanging, but there\u2019s always hope. The overhead Christmas lights twinkle in approval.<\/p>\n
Hoben\u2019s play might be predictable and uncomplicated, but in the capable hands of Rezanour, aided by director Shawann Renee Rivon who keeps the feel-good quotient on high, this 90-minute play flies by as if driven by Santa. Dating is Hell, but 12 \u00a0of them can be Heaven.<\/p>\n
The Twelve Dates of Christmas continues through December 28 at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, and 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays at The Gordy theater at Stages, 800 Rosine. For more information, call 713-527-0123 or visit stageshouston.com. $25-$94.<\/p>\n