Judy's Scary Little Christmas: Review in the Des Moines Register

Review

"A Singularly Strange Evening That Will Not Be Soon Forgotten."

Preshia Paulding as Judy Garland in

"Judy's Scary Little Christmas"

By JEFFREY BRUNER
REGISTER THEATER CRITIC

November 26, 2005

“Judy’s Scary Little Christmas” is a little like all of the booze belted down during this StageWest production — loose and free-spirited before morphing into mean, bitter side followed by a somewhat sobering reality.

Fortunately this bizarre little experiment, now at the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines’ Stoner Theater through Dec. 11, is hangover-free. This musical comedy by James Webber, David Church and Joe Patrick Ward is mostly campy fun, a combination of a Judy Garland Christmas Special and an episode of “The Twilight Zone.”

Director Joe Tish and scenic designer Michael Powers turn the Stoner into a television studio, reworking the theater’s seating configuration and opting for a simpler set design to fill the frame of a television camera. It’s 1959 and time for yet another of Judy’s big comebacks.

And Judy (Preshia Paulding) is pulling out all the stops this time — Bing Crosby (Joseph Parrish), Liberace (Wally Glover) and Ethel Merman (Barbara Merrill Wagner). Each gets a musical number, such as Merman singing “Mauna Loa Hula Holiday” so wildly over the top that in real life Hawaii would have reconsidered statehood.

Later arrivals include three who threaten to ruin the night — liberal playwright Lillian Hellman (Andrea Reedy), Vice President Richard Nixon (Michael Davenport), who have a hilarious duet called “Ever Been in Love?” and actress/mother extraordinaire Joan Crawford (Carol Palmer), who delivers a hilarious and scary reading of The Christmas Story.

There’s also a Mystery Guest, whose arrival turns everything upside down and sends the show into a very, very dark place. (The Mystery Guest has his own sound effects, which were spotty and a bit distracting on opening night.)

Tish has done a commendable job of casting, finding performers who get the essence of these famous characters while avoiding caricature. Practically a character of its own is the amazing costume and makeup work done by Desiree Dixon, Wally Glover and Andrea Reedy.

The play itself runs long at 140 minutes and its large number of characters prevents the kind of development that permits a level of introspection that Webber, Church and Ward are seeking during the second act. Only Garland is able to achieve a certain poignancy as the show’s creators wrap up with a scene that concludes that this Christmas Eve will be neither merry nor scary but instead a singularly strange evening that will not be soon forgotten.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

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.

6 Responses to “REVIEW: Judy’s Scary Little Christmas”

BRAVO!!!! ENCORE …ENCORE… PRESHIA PAULDING AKA JUDY SHOULD PLAY PATSY CLINE NEXT..SHE IS WONDERFUL…

- JULIE WARREN
December 9th, 2005 at 9:38 am

I loved this show! It was very well cast, directed and featured a great score. The performances were ALL amazing! This just proves what I’ve always known…A lot of awesome talent came out of the Ingersoll Dinner Theatre!!

- Steve, Des Moines
December 2nd, 2005 at 6:27 am

Well, after seeing the opening night performance, I must say, that I was thoroughly surprised. What an enjoyable show. I had mixed feelings initially, however, I ws thoroughly impressed with this production.

- Christine, South of Grand
November 29th, 2005 at 12:19 am

I agree with you Mr. Bruner. For the most part the actors did a knock-up job of getting across the essence of these real life luminaries, particularly Ms. Paulding who was captivating. The delightful quartet was also fun to watch and listen to. I also agree with your comments regarding the play’s length. Pacing could have been better. Line pick ups were too slow for the rapid fire wit most of these Hollywood legends are known for. I’m hopeful this problem will work itself out by the second weekend. Nevertheless, I had an enjoyable evening and found myself laughing alot.

- Abbie G., Altoona
November 28th, 2005 at 2:59 pm

Gee, you’d think I could have addressed that issue. (Doh.) That’s what I get for writing it before leaving early Saturday morning a belated Thanksgiving weekend with family.

Joe Parrish’s Bing Crosby was a notch or two too much at first but he dialed it down to the right level in the second act. I was quite impressed with how Preshia Paulding handled Judy Garland, especially the more dramatic parts near the end of the play.

Michael Davenport’s Nixon grows on you as the play goes on. Yeah, he’s a little on the young side perhaps but I enjoyed the rest of it and he was clearly an audience favorite.

The ensemble was really, really tight — barbershop tight — and their look was like those commercials for Old Navy, which themselves are a campy riff on era long ago. (I mean that in a nice way.)

If you want to see the show, hurry up and get your tickets because I hear a few shows are sold out already.

- Jeffrey Bruner
November 27th, 2005 at 4:55 pm

So what about the performances?

- Warren B
November 26th, 2005 at 1:28 pm