Review: LISA HOWARD'S HOLIDAY SPECIAL! At 54 Below NOT a Cookie Cutter Christmas Show!

The hardest thing about doing a Christmas show is coming up with an original idea.  If you don’t, you can find yourself with an audience full of people sighing, looking at their watches, and rolling their eyes.  Well nobody was doing any of those things Wednesday night at 54 Below because Lisa Howard presented Lisa Howard’S HOLIDAY SPECIAL, during which she spoofs the not so very original Hallmark Christmas movie format and, as a result, produces one really and truly original Christmas show.

There are performers that you watch and you think, “My gosh, I’m glad for their success” and it is incredibly difficult to see Lisa Howard at work and not have her become one of those people.  Everything about Ms. Howard makes a person appreciate the fine balance of talent and training that comes with being a performing artist, but, then, she has that spark, that something special that makes a performer stand out from the rest.  She is impossibly pretty, her voice is unbelievably gorgeous, her personality is infectiously lovable, and she knows how to work a crowd, she really does.  At her Wednesday night performance she had the full room at 54 Below in the palm of her hand, as she pranced, danced, and romanced everyone into her marvelous, magical, mirth-filled musical version of a Hallmark Christmas movie.

After a brisk and bright opening number (conveniently the same name as her album, THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR), Ms. Howard wasted no time in getting the conceit of the evening into the air.  She is a fan of the made-for-television Christmas movie genre (and although the name Hallmark was bandied about, she did call out other networks like Lifetime and Netflix), and she has created her own musical version of the same.  So she was there to put a picture in the heads of her audience, an audience that spent an hour laughing at her perfectly-time outlining of the story and how songs like “We Need A Little Christmas” and “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” and “All I Want For Christmas Is You” assist in the telling of the story of Holly, the big city girl returning home to sell the family Christmas tree farm, Nick, the boy from high school for whom she had a little crush, played by Patrick Dempsey, and the sleazy lawyer portrayed by Rob Lowe who threatens all things good.  Now, even though these television Christmas flicks can be a bit predictable, it would not behoove this writer to ruin all the fun for Lisa Howard’s 2024 audience (because this is a holiday show that should be everyone’s tradition), so that is where the synopsis breakdown ends.  Suffice it to say that Lisa Howard has done her research, she has done her homework, she has crafted a remarkable (and remarkably funny) script, and what she has, now, is a Christmas show that isn’t just enjoyable and out of the ordinary, it is held up by the powerful pillars of perfect musical performances.

Backed by a band that sounds AMAZING and two backup singers (Cat Brindisi and Alina Garcia) who assist, mightily, in making the evening Merry, Lisa Howard gives the music lovers a great night out.  And even though that night is full of Christmas songs, Musical Director Michael Shaieb has given all the songs, be they well known, like the ubiquitous “Sleigh Ride,” or original compositions like Shaieb’s own “The House Where I Grew Up At Christmas,” impeccable arrangements.  Indeed, his treatments are an additional character in the show, designed to fit, like winter gloves, Lisa Howard, her abilities, and her musical cabaret.  This is a perfect example of how the relationships that singers and their MD’s build can become artistic marriages that inform the full spectrum of creation that people can share.  They are a dream team, and so is their ensemble of musicians, vocalists, and 54 Below lighting engineer, KJ Hardy, who created an indoor winter wonderland for Lisa and co. to inhibit (with Lisa dressed in a stunning ‘stume by designer David Josef).  The entire Richard Jay-Alexander-helmed production was a delight, a real gift for the holidays - but at the end of the holiday, it is Lisa Howard standing front and center, and that’s where the magic lies.

While playing her not-so-inside joke of a show, it was imperative for Lisa Howard to be performative, tongue-in-cheeky and wink/wink elbow-nudgey, the joke depended on it, and if an actor isn’t careful, they can alienate their audience by becoming unrelatable.  Fortunately, Lisa wrapped her arms around the audience, metaphysically, drew them in, and made them a part of the joke, warming all with belly laughs and beautiful singing.  Whether working off of something somber like Joni Mitchell’s “River” or something cheery like the Kelly Clarkson hit “Under the Misteltoe” (both evening highlights), Lisa Howard was musically in the pocket, emotionally transformative, and personally accessible.  She has a strong sense of how to communicate with her audience, when to be broad, when to touch hearts, and how to drop the charade at the end of a comedy show and let the audience in, and even though her HOLIDAY SPECIAL was, indeed, special, when she was finished with her one-act play, there was no standing ovation (something so rote, by this point in our lives, that it has lost its meaning).  Yet, for her encore, she explained she had a song not from the Christmas canon - and that encore was one of the the most fully realized performances of the song “Meadowlark” that this writer has ever heard, and the standing ovation that followed was instantaneous and well-earned.  It made this lover of cabaret want, no, need, a Lisa Howard evening of music that can be listened to year-round and not just in December.  It was the right way to end a right proper evening of musical storytelling.  My only regret is that the show ran two nights and this review is coming out too late to tell people to go see it.  But there is always next year, so set a Google alert, and give yourself a holiday treat in 2024.  It’ll be worth the wait, I promise.

The Lisa Howard’S HOLIDAY SPECIAL band was Sean McDaniel on drums, Dillon Kondor on guitar, Alden Terry on bass, and Musical Director Michael Shaieb on piano.

Find great shows to see on the 54 Below website HERE.

Visit the Lisa Howard website HERE.

Photos by Stephen Mosher

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