'Christmas Belles' Ring in the Laughs

By: Oct. 26, 2009
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Getting a jump on the holidays, the Vagabond Players, "America's oldest continuously operating little theater group," presents Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten's "Christmas Belles" now through November, and one thing is for sure.

It ain't Ibsen.

Taking a page from "A Tuna Christmas" from the comic "Tuna" triology (which, oddly enough, were also penned by three authors in tandem), "Christmas Belles" offers an affectionate look at Southern attitudes and accents at Yuletide in a mythical Mayberry known as Fayro, Texas.

As one might expect in a play of this sort, each character is an eccentric, from the high-and-mighty-busybody (whom we all know will get her comeuppance in the end) Patsy Price (Trish Bentz) to the squabbling Futrelle (futile?) sisters to the "village idiot," Ryan Patrick's Raynerd Chisum (you know he's a few cows short of a manger by his ever present little red wagon and hunter's hat with fuzzy ear flaps, only people with single digit IQs wear them in plays and movies) who proves himself a savant by play's end.

One suspects this is a production actors really enjoy because it's an invitation to ham it up and have fun, particularly when the script is full of so many wonderful humorous lines and quips. My theater companion and myself both agreed our favorite came from Bentz's Patsy who says of Raynerd, "that Boo Radley," his "wheel is still spinnin' but the hamster is dead."

Then you have Stephanie Ranno's Frankie Futrelle, pregnant with twins, though by the size of her costume padding, she looks more like the Octamom before she gave birth. Ms. Ranno uses her artificial girth for maximum comic effect, sometimes "resting" her swollen middle on the table, at least when her husband, Dub Dubberly (Roger Schulman), isn't lying prostrate upon it, bellowing in pain from his slowly descending kidney stone.

As is typical of a comedy of this sort, there are numerous story lines weaving their way and intersecting throughout the course of this 2+ hour production, principle of which is the quest of Honey Raye Futrelle (Maribeth Vogel Eckenrode), a woman who never met a man she didn't like (a LOT), to put on the best Christmas pageant the Tabernacle of the Lamb Church has ever seen-"Bethlehemapalooza" - complete with fake camel, a real sheep, and an appearance by the King...and not just baby Jesus, but Elvis.

Or in this case, John Curtis Buntner (Patrick Martyn), the town lawman, who trades in his badge for the requisite cape, oversized shades and sideburns. While Buntner's King is a hit, the camel costume turns out to be a polar bear, the sheep keeps biting people, there's a food poisoning epidemic and a meddling former holiday pageant director, Miss Geneva Musgrave (Natalia Chavez Leimkuhler) who might just save the show.

Will local TV channel 15 celebrity CeeCee Windham present the Holy family with her famed butter nut squash lasagana? Will preacher Justin Waverly (Tom Burns) marry Gina Jo Dubberly (Karin Crighton)? Will Gina Jo successfully retrieve her engagement ring (see the play to learn why that's an answer worth knowing)? Will jailbird Twink (Laura Gifford) get her revenge on her ex-boyfriend? And who is this stranger, Rhonda Lynn (Joan Crooks) anyway?

Again, it ain't Ibsen. Don't look for deep meanings here. Just innocent laughs.

"Christmas Belles" continues Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. through Nov. 22nd (no performance on Halloween, Oct. 21st) at the Vagabond Theater, 806 South Broadway in Fells Point. Tickets are $15. Call 410-563-9135 or visit www.vagabondplayers.org.

 



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