Judy's Scary Little Christmas: Des Moines Register Feature Story

Spend an evening with Judy, Ethel — and Nixon

Surreal world: Above, from left, Wally Glover as Liberace,

Preshia Paulding as Judy Garland and Carol Palmer as

Joan Crawford star in the StageWest show.

By JEFFREY BRUNER
REGISTER THEATER CRITIC

November 20, 2005

Only in the sometimes surreal world of theater can Richard Nixon, Judy Garland, Ethel Merman, Liberace and Joan Crawford come together on the same stage.

It's going to happen this week in StageWest's production of "Judy's Scary Little Christmas."

"It's an interesting piece of work," said director Joe Tish of the show, which opens Friday at the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines' Stoner Theater.

"It's such a hoot — that's really the word for it."

The show is a spoof of the Christmas television shows Garland used to host. It's set in 1959, when she didn't have a show because of the numerous personal tragedies consuming her life that year.

Preshia Paulding, who plays Garland, said the show isn't what she expected — it's not just a musical revue with famous characters.

"Everything in this show, every bit of dialogue, is based on actual facts about the characters," she said. "They all seemed to have issues, which I found fascinating."

Barb Wagner, who plays Ethel Merman, said getting the singer's unique voice down pat was "probably the hardest thing I've had to do vocally in my 29 years in Des Moines theater."

Both Wagner and Paulding are probably best known as two of the original Purple Cow Players, which became the basis for the long-running Ingersoll Dinner Theater before it closed a year ago.

The musical by Joe Patrick Ward, David Church and James Webber originated in Los Angeles, and the Des Moines production is the first outside the West Coast. A second production opens in December in Chicago.

Tish said casting the show was a challenge; it took nearly three weeks to find actors who could play the parts. Tish was pleasantly surprised to discover that Michael Davenport, a fresh-faced recruit in "Biloxi Blues" earlier this year at the Des Moines Playhouse, could do an uncanny impersonation of Nixon.

While the show has a number of light, campy moments, it does turn a bit more serious in the second act, Tish said.

Paulding initially didn't audition, but is glad she agreed to consider it.

"I find it so much fun on the camp side to bring these characters to life, and then there's a bittersweet side to the lives they lived outside of the public eye, and they were human just like you or I," she said. "This is the most fun I've had researching a character."

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WHAT: "Judy's Scary Little Christmas"
WHERE: Civic Center of Greater Des Moines' Stoner Theater
WHEN: Friday through Dec. 11
CURTAIN: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 3 p.m. Sunday; 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday.
TICKETS: $23.50 and $12.50 on Wednesdays; tickets for Thursday-Sunday shows are half-price 30 minutes prior to curtain.