Review: WHO'S HOLIDAY is a Central Arkansas Tradition at The Studio Theatre

To finish out 2023, Broadway World headed to The Studio Theatre, 320 W 7th St, in Little Rock, Saturday, Dec. 23, to see the hilarious one-woman show WHO’S HOLIDAY, written by Matthew Lombardo, directed by Duane Jackson, and starring the super talented Georgeann Burbank. If you can, imagine Dr. Seuss got drunk and wrote for adults. This would be the end result. Now in its fifth year, this adult version of Cindy Lou Who and the Grinch had everyone in tears from beginning to the end, and we had the best time.  

Cindy Lou Who is throwing a holiday party with anticipation of her friends showing up. While waiting, she notices the audience is here with her, so she says we can stay until her friends arrive and begins telling her story. She starts by talking about how the Grinch was stealing all of Whoville’s Christmas and then gave it back. The Whovillians were so grateful that they befriended him, and he and Cindy hung out a lot.  

After she turned 18 years old, she had her first sexual experience with the Grinch and fell in love and got pregnant. She was then kicked out and moved in with The Grinch. At first it was ok, and she had the baby. Shortly thereafter, he became nastier, they got in a fight, and The Grinch fell off the mountain and died. Cindy was blamed and ended up in prison. She learned a lot about herself during that time and was let out after serving her sentence. After that, she was able to move into a trailer and start her life over. In the end, no one showed up to her party, but she realized we were all still here, and then her daughter showed up to end the play. 

This is my second time seeing this comedy, and I fell in love with Burbank all over again. Her comedic timing and crowd handling was pro level. At one point she gets a volunteer to come to the stage to drink with her, and this time she picked a very enthusiastic guy who was really into everything she was offering and then some. I’m pretty sure he was lit before the show and I did get a little concerned with his fanaticism, but, again, she took care of it and continued on with her story. 

I loved the various wigs and costumes that she changed into right there on stage. She kept on talking and keeping the show going through all of the various activities she had going on including taking out some pigs in a blanket and throwing them to audience members in the back.....so funny....so entertaining. I love it! I’ll probably show up again next year.  

Bartender James Linker made another great concoction of deliciousness. This time it was lacking the ice cream because of too many people complaining about being lactose intolerant.....whatever! I mean it was fine without it, but still....why did I have to be without the little scoop of ice cream? Come on people! If I want to be gluttonous, let me.  

Next up is Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, and I am looking forward to this one. In fact, The Studio has a lot of great shows this season, so keep looking for tickets to go on sale. For more information, visit their website at https://www.studiotheatrelr.com. 

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