Review: CHRISTMAS ON THE ROCKS at TheaterWorks

What is Clara of NUTCRACKER fame like as a grownup? Or Tiny Tim, or Charlie Brown, or Cindy Lou Who from HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS? Answers await in Hartford's TheaterWorks basement space, transformed into a cozy but dated local bar on Christmas Eve, in a lonely corner of the cosmos with a street address of 1225.

For the third year running, Hartford's small but sassy regional company is mounting CHRISTMAS ON THE ROCKS, a collection of seven scenes each of which features the adult version of a child we know from a classic holiday song or film. Artistic Director Rob Ruggiero conceived this project and invited contemporary playwrights of note to contribute. Aptly subtitled "An Offbeat Collection of Twisted Holiday Tales," the result is by turns raucous and rude but ultimately affectionate. It's an effective antidote to the cloying sentimentality that surges throughout most holiday-themed performances.

It's also a workout for the three actors. Veteran Ronn Carroll plays the bartender, who invites confessions, resists being petted, and dispenses advice along with liberal quantities of alcohol. His credits include ANNIE GET YOUR GUN with Ethel Merman in 1966 and Bernadette Peters in 1999. Good preparation, I'd say, for figuring out how to provide a foil for the high octane and increasingly soused characters who blow into his bar.

Jenn Harris and Matthew Wilkas alternate scenes, delivering what amount to punctuated monologues. The evening has an arc, beginning with some fairly tame contemporary types tinged with cynicism, escalating into wacky and flamboyant variations on fairy and elf and so forth, and ending with a return to the familiar depressive normalcy of Charlie Brown in "Merry Christmas, Blockhead" by Jacques Lamarre.

The most successful bit of the evening, I thought, was Matthew Lombardo's "Going Green" featuring Ms. Harris in sparkly platform heels, fishnets, a pink minidress, pipe cleaner antennae, and a Grinch-green scarf. Lombardo has retained the doggerel verse form of the book and film for his dialogue, and the extra dollop of style on top of the parody took this scene up a notch. He's clever, as well. Spoiler alert! Cindy Lou and the Grinch had a baby girl who grew up to play Elphaba in WICKED.

The fury with which nightgown clad Clara smashes nuts in Edwin Sanchez' "Still Nuts about Him" is a hoot, too. And Wilkas has a grand good time sashaying about as a toy-making elf who pranked Rudolph in "Say It Glows" by Jeffrey Hatcher. Costume designer Alejo Vietti has exploited the opportunities this script offers; that's a huge help to the actors and major fun for the audience. Needless to say, this is not a show for kids.

CHRISTMAS ON THE ROCKS runs through December 23.

photo by Lanny Nagler