Judy's Scary Little Christmas: Entertainment Today Review

ENTERTAINMENT TODAY

12/20/02

Judy’s Scary Little Christmas
Victory Theatre

reviewed by Travis Michael Holder

So it’s 1959 at CBS Television City in Hollywood and Judy Garland has decided on doing a big, glitzy holiday special might boost her sagging ratings. She has amassed some illustrious guests for the show, including her old pal Bing Crosby, Liberace, Joan Crawford, Ethel Merman and a couple of true non-entertainers — Lillian Hellman and then-Vice President Richard M. Nixon. Pretty scary, huh? Well, add in a surprise visit from Death himself, and Judy’s Scary Little Christmas, now debuting at the Victory, is anything but your traditional warm and fuzzy Christmas tale.

That incredibly gifted director/choreographer Kay Cole was the perfect choice to flesh out the fun in Judy’s Scary Little Christmas. She and her absolutely stellar cast work with precision timing to adopt James Webber and David Church’s delightfully preposterous premise, leading her actors to confidently throw away most of the script’s heap of hilarious puns and actual one-liners these celebrities have made famous on the party circuit, such as Judy’s obligatory “rainbows coming out my ass” line.

Often in a show featuring historical characters, there is a decision made early on to not do a Rich Little; here, the reverse is true and each actor seamlessly imitates the celebrity they portray. Connie Champagne, who has a history playing Garland, is uncanny, dead-on in every move and vocal nuance. Her resemblance to Judy, her delivery of a joke, her vocal stylings and jerky physical antics make her the best Garland impersonator I’ve ever seen, miming more than just the familiar quirks of great star in concert, but also able to nail the cadence of her speech in conversation and even the way she crossed her legs.

Sean Smith is also a treat as Crosby, complete with golf club and a self-deprecating crack or two about himself (taking off his hat he says he’ll give his “brain doily a little oxygen”). Lauri Johnson is suitably loud and ready to break some underling balls as Merman and Don Lucas is sufficiently grand as Liberace, who would like to try a more tender approach. Joanne O’Brien’s Crawford is more frightening than Jacob Marley at his clankiest, but it is the teaming of Jan Sheldrick and Eric Anderson as Hellman and Nixon which proves the most inspired casting, especially as they bring down the house with a reluctant duet (“For crying out loud, Lilly,” Tricky cajoles, “I’m not asking you to name names, just sing”).

For all Judy’s Scary Little Christmas has going for it — including a fine group of energetic Cole-inspired ensemble players and a knockout set by Webber complete with a Christmas tree that revolves into a bar — there is something sadly lacking here: a cohesive book. The idea is a great one, the nostalgia is welcome (“Give a Christmas carton of Lucky Strike!” Judy’s announcer intones, “They’re mild!”), and the humor is often side-spitting, but somewhere all these tasty ingredients stirred together fall a little flat. It starts as pure comedy and does its best there, but when Death arrives to tell each celebrity the reason he or she is destined to the fiery depths, or when a sailor Liberace has picked up (an excellent Dustin Strong) goes into a dramatic monologue about what Garland means to the gay community, things become a tad convoluted. Stick to the less cerebral moments, such as Nixon’s lame tries to be user-friendly (“You’ve got the timing of a subpoena, Dick,” Judy tells him), and this piece could become a holiday classic. Leave the mood-crushing Spirit of Christmas-Yet-to-Come to Dickens, guys. Dump Death and all the excess drama here — just bring us Cole’s imagination and these fantastic performers playing the hell out of our enduring legends, and we’ll be happy as eggnog.

For tickets, call (818) 841-5422.