BWW Reviews: SCROOGE IN ROUGE Generates Lots of Laughs at Rancho Mirage's Desert Rose Playhouse

It's almost the Christmas season, in honor of which the Desert Rose Playhouse, in Rancho Mirage California, is presenting a hilariously funny sendup of A CHRISTMAS CAROL, SCROOGE IN ROUGE. Unlike in most versions of the Dickens tale, where people cry during Tiny Tim's prayer, the only tears attendees are likely to shed at SCROOGE IN ROUGE are tears of laughter, unless the ghost of Charles Dickens sees what Desert Rose has done to his masterpiece. The production is brilliantly produced, directed, and performed, and deserves to sell out at every show.

Desert Rose Productions, a 501(c)(3) organization operated by married couple Jim Strait (artistic director) and Paul Taylor (managing director), is dedicated to producing gay-friendly theatrical offerings. This zany musical is a delectable Christmas gift to theatergoers, gay and straight.

Although some (but by no means all) of the off-color jokes in SCROOGE IN ROUGE are oriented towards gay members of the audience, this production, with its light-hearted humor, is "gay" more in the old-fashioned sense. The plot's premise, as far as there is a plot, is that a small music hall on London's outskirts plans to present A CHRISTMAS CAROL. When all but three actors in the twenty-member cast develop food poisoning, the three decide to go forward with each of them taking on multiple roles and hoping that they'll never need four performers on stage at once. Of course, their hope is dashed during the performance, and how they find a fourth actor is one of the delightful surprises in SCROOGE IN ROUGE.

The three actors still standing don't have the luxury of worrying about sex or talent, so Scrooge speaks in Miss Vesta Virile's (Ryan Dominguez) Cockney accent. Miss Lottie Obligatto (Alexander Todd), who has plenty of sex but no talent, winds up playing up her physical assets in her roles as most of the women in A CHRISTMAS CAROL. Mr. Charlie Schmaltz (Timm McBride) serves as narrator and plays most of the miscellaneous male roles. There is an ongoing mad dash, especially for Lottie and Charlie, to change costumes and don elaborate wigs between scenes, resulting in its own hilarity.

To the extent that someone can write straight-faced about a show whose script doesn't take itself seriously, here are my attempts at dispassionate comments: SCROOGE IN ROUGE provides mostly PG-13 entertainment. The few R-rated sexual references and double entendres are coded enough that they are likely to fly above the heads of any kids in the audience. Most of the sex humor involves the man-hungry Lottie, whose, ahem, mammary glands stick out a significant distance from her chest wall, and even manage to shift their location. (I assume that the latter effect was accidental, but it was certainly funny). The actors deliberately break the "fourth wall" in the small, haimish theater to encourage the audience to groan at the visual and verbal "sheep puns". (I call them "sheep puns" because they're b-a-a-a-d.)

Mr. McBride, Mr. Todd, and Mr. Dominguez strike the perfect balance between noodling around and taking themselves too seriously. They, along with the costumed piano player, Mr. Alfred da Capo (Steven Smith, the musical director for SCROOGE IN ROUGE), deserve praise for the seamless way the performances blend, with extra kudos to Alexander Todd for his performance as Lottie. The demands of his role force him to speak and sing in falsetto for almost the whole production, which must be a chore even for someone with operatic experience. Despite his height and build, Mr. Todd is so convincing as a daffy woman that I all but forgot he is really a man.

Mr. Smith, as pianist and music director, also deserves special praise: Rather than playing only during the songs, Mr. Smith adds background music to various segments of dialogue. The background music contributes considerably to the atmosphere.

The songs and lyrics are worthy of Broadway, and the cast skillfully delivers the musical numbers. I found "Jacob Marley's Ghost," "All is Forgiven - Almost," and "Old Ebeneezer" especially enjoyable. "So Much Love" includes a deftly performed contrapuntal duet that I doubt many local theaters would even attempt.

The incredibly detailed costumes and wigs (designed by Jennifer Brawn Gittings and Toni Molano respectively) also deserve praise. My personal favorites are the Marie Antoinette get-up that Lottie wears in one of the scenes, the Tiny Tim costume, and the staff carried by the ghost of Christmas present. No, I will not describe the staff because it will spoil a visual joke.

SCROOGE IN ROUGE lived up to my "Great Expectations," and inspired me to come up with suggestions for even worse puns than those dreamed up by writers Ricky Graham, Jeffrey Roberson, and Yvette Hargis: adding a "Dickens" of a sneeze before Tiny Tim intones "God bless us, everyone" and offering Mr. da Capo a few drinks before he performs, and asking "Olive or Twist?"

Oh, dear, this "tour de farce" production appears to have resulted in a "pundemic."

SCROOGE IN ROUGE will be presented through Sunday, December 21st, on Friday and Saturday evenings at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. The Desert Rose Playhouse is located just north of Frank Sinatra Boulevard and immediately south of the Emperor Buffet, at 69-620 Highway 111, Rancho Mirage, CA 92270. [NOTE: A PREVIOUS VERSION OF THIS ARTICLE INCORRECTLY STATED THAT THE THEATER IS IN "THE ATRIUM." THAT IS NOT CORRECT.] The Box Office opens at 4 p.m. before evening performances and at noon on Sundays. Tickets are $30 for the evening performances and $28 dollars for matinees. Tickets are available at the box office, by phone at 760-202-3000, and by internet at www.desertroseplayhouse.org. There is no service charge for internet or phone orders.

The rest of the company includes Mark Demry (costume coordinator and dresser); Alan Denny (music rehearsal director); Steve Fisher (stage manager); Michael Mizerany (choreographer), Phil Murphy (lighting designer); Ted Raker, Thom Golyar, and Jason Smith (scenery artists); Paul Taylor (producer); Jefferson Turner (composer of original music); Thomas Valach (set designer); and Lorraine Williamson and Tony Molano (dressers).

Photo Credit: Jim Strait (Production Shot)