MARK AUERBACH
HARTFORD – For those of you who have tired of the annual holiday productions of A Christmas Carol, The Nutcracker, Holiday Pops, and It’s A Wonderful Life (play or musical), Hartford’s TheaterWorks has come up with one of the most original and laugh-filled new holiday traditions, Christmas on The Rocks (which runs through December 23).
Rob Ruggiero, TheaterWorks Artistic Director, came up with this concept: find seven contemporary playwrights and ask them to update some holiday stage and screen classics. Ruggiero directs the off-beat comedy which is sometimes wise, always funny, and one of the best entertainments I’ve laughed my way through in a while.
Ronn Carroll as The Bartender and Jenn Harris as Clara from The Nutcracker in TheaterWorks’ Christmas On The Rocks. (Photo by Lanny Nagler)
The playwrights are (John Cariani , the star of Broadway’s Something Rotten, a StageWest alum, and author of Almost Maine), Jeffrey Hatcher (Never Gonna Dance on Broadway), Jacques Lamarre (Hartford local who has written twelve shows for Varla Jeab Merman), Matthew Lombardo (Looped with Valerie Harper), Theresa Rebeck (NBC’s Smash), Edwin Sanchez (Diary of a Puero Rican Demigod) and Jonathan Tolins (Buyer and Cellar, one oif the funniest recent Off-Broadway hits, and next on the theaterWorks roster).
Together, they’ve created a group of characters who visit an out-of-the-way bar on Christmas Eve, where they tell their stories to an affable bartender (Ronn Carroll). They’re familiar faces… Tiny Tim, Charlie Brown, Ralphie from A Christmas Story, Clara from The Nutcracker, and Dr. Seuss’ Cindy Lou Who among them. But, they’re all grown up with the scars of lives that weren’t all happily ever after–some sympathetic, some touching, and all funny. Jenn Harris and Matthew Wilkas play the characters, most drawn as broad sketch comedy, and some with more poignant tales.
Jenn Harris as Cindy Lou Who in TheaterWorks’ Christmas On The Rocks. (Photo by Lanny Nagler)
The three actors are sublime in their variety of roles. Michael Schwelkardt’s bar set is perfect, and Alejo Bietti’s costumes, particularly for Ciny Lou Who and Clara, are inspired. John Lasiter’s lighting is superb, and Mark Adam Rampeyer’s wigs are hysterical.
I was having trouble getting into the holiday mode, but Christmas On The Rocks sent me home with a broad smile and some aches from laughing for 90 minutes. It’s fun holiday entertainment for the adults.
TheaterWorks presents “Christmas on The Rocks” conceived and directed by Rob Ruggiero. Playlets by: by John Cariani, Jeffrey Hatcher, Jacques Lamarre, Matthew Lombardo, Theresa Rebeck, Edwin Sanchez and Jonathan Tolins. Scenic design by Michael Schwelkardt. Costume design by Aleto Vieti. Lighting design by John Lasiter. Sound design by Michael Miceli. Wigs by Mark Adam Rampeyer. Cast: Jenn Harris, Ron Carroll, and Matt Wilkas. Through December 23. TheaterWorks, 233 Pearl Street, Hartford, CT. For tickets: 860-527-7838 or www.theaterworkshartford.org
Mark G. Auerbach studied theatre at American University and the Yale School of Drama. He’s worked for arts organizations and reported on theatre for newspapers and radio.
