Judy's Scary Little Christmas: Review by NWI Times (Chicago Production)

Holiday show pays homage to late greats

offBeat with PHILIP POTEMPA

BY PHILIP POTEMPA
ppotempa@nwitimes.com
219.852.4327

This story ran on nwitimes.com on Friday, December 16, 2005 12:31 AM CST

Ghosts, Christmas past

There was a time when December television viewing meant lots of annual celebrity holiday specials.

Bob Hope, Perry Como, The Osmonds, Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn and Andy Williams all did yearly one-hour specials.

Today, all that's left are the likes of Clay Aiken, Kathie Lee Gifford and Harry Connick Jr., who are trying to keep the same tradition alive in today's world of cable channel competition and networks worried about advertising and cheap show production opportunities.

For anyone interested in a trip down memory lane, Hell in a Handbag Productions has assembled a talented group of performers in a clever parody of those Christmas specials of yesteryear called "Judy's Scary Little Christmas."

Handbag ensemble member Tim Howard directs this twisted, but loving, look at the year 1959 as Judy Garland is in the midst of filming her annual holiday special. The theater audience is treated like the studio audience, as Garland gathers a bevy of her celebrity friends to join her in celebrating the holiday season on her comeback television variety special.

Bing Crosby, Liberace, Joan Crawford, Ethel Merman and even Richard Nixon drop in for a cup of cheer.

I applaud the dead-on (no pun intended) performances of Brannen Daugherty as Liberace, Derek Czaplewski as Crosby, and Hammond's own acting claim-to-fame David Cerda camping it up as an angry and comically misunderstood Joan Crawford and reading the story of the birth of Christ. Priceless.

This musical holiday stage comedy enjoyed critically acclaimed engagements on the West Coast.

"Judy's Scary Little Christmas" continues at Strawdog Theatre, 3829 N. Broadway, Chicago, until Jan. 7. Admission: $15 to $20, FYI: (312) 409-4357.