It was the monologue that launched a career. First heard on public radio in 1992, David Sedaris’ eight-minute Christmas memoir—a detail-filled recitation of humiliations suffered (and dished out) by the author during his stint as a Macy’s department-store elf—became an instant classic, and was later deemed worthy enough to be included in two of the writer’s essay collections. Despite its unlikely literary beginnings, “The Santaland Diaries” has become holiday mainstay for the stage, expanded into a ninety-minute work performed by a solitary actor who channels (or doesn’t) the deadpan Sedaris-as-elf delivery. Locally, the face most associated with this role is Chicago actor Lance Stuart Baker, a likable performer at ease with the material and a lizard-eyed delivery that is winning in its acerbity. But the performance could use some trims here and there. Baker tends to lean too hard on the sarcasm—why underscore what is self-evident in the script?—but to his credit he has made the part his own. Under the direction of Jeremy Wechsler, the Theater Wit production is an especially loosey-goosey affair, which seems just right. The play demands not reverence, but a jaded sort of jolliness that allows for priceless ad-libbing in the direction of late arrivals and the occasional malfunctioning prop. (Nina Metz)
PERFORMANCE
*Holiday! From Broadway to Hollywood
Quick: how many classic holiday songs began life in Broadway shows and/or films? Quite a few, actually, although most became more well known as Yuletide songs in and of themselves: Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas,” still the most popular song of all time, began life in the 1942 film “Holiday Inn,” not the later 1950s remake called “White Christmas.” And despite the fact that “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” is now a happy holiday tune, Judy Garland introduced it as a heartbreaking ballad in “Meet Me in St. Louis” while Angela Lansbury introduced “We Need a Little Christmas” in “Mame” only to have Lucille Ball croak her way through it in the film version. And would you believe that Bob Hope actually introduced “Silver Bells” in the otherwise forgetful gangster comedy “The Lemon Drop Kid?” These types of tidbits and the songs themselves, of course, will be the centerpiece of this holiday-themed revue that includes cabaret artists Beckie Menzie, Tom Michael, Laura Freeman, Joel Kopishke, Jaii Beckley, Robert Whorton and a special appearance by Audrey Morris. (Dennis Polkow) Sat/1pm & 3pm. Chicago Cultural Center’s Preston Bradley Hall, 77 E. Randolph, (312)742-8496. Free.
How the Diva Stole Christmas
If you don’t know Amy & Freddy, a cabaret duo who performs around town and tours the national lounge circuit with comedy and music, Amy Armstrong is a Broadway belter and a cocky comedienne in the Totie Fields/Roseanne tradition who uses her ample girth as the butt of her jokes—often literally—while pianist Freddy Allen uses his schoolboy looks and reserved manner as a “straight” man to Amy, despite often being the butt of gay fashion jokes. That both have talent there is no doubt, but it doesn’t seem well-served in their first-ever holiday revue which promises no “cute children, staged nativity scenes involving real livestock, singing and/or dancing Santas, figure skaters, elves, scenic backdrops of quaint villages and fake snow.” What it offers as a substitute are sophomoric jokes and stale satiric songs about Yuletide flatulence, booze, oral sex, drinking, getting laid, destroying toys, unbearable holiday get-togethers and more drinking. “Don’t you just love booze?” Amy asks in a Rockette-like Santa outfit that reveals her rotund figure to its bowl-full-of-jelly shaking maximum. “Yeah! Yeah!” clamors the crowd, most of whom are feeling no pain and who are talking, heckling and singing along all evening as if the show were their own. And that, after all, may be exactly the point. (Dennis Polkow) Fri-Sat/10pm. Lakeshore Theater, 3175 N. Broadway, (773)472-3492. $25. Through Dec 15.
*Towards the Light: A Jazz Nativity
Making use of traditional Christmas carols in jazz arrangements as well as original jazz music, the Three Wise Men in this spicy take on the familiar Christmas story include a Tap Dancing King (Lane Alexander), a Latin Percussion King (Geraldo DeOliviera) and a Trumpet King (Bobby Lewis), all joyously improvising their way to Bethlehem in this fully staged production that features some of the city’s hottest jazzers, including vocalists Dave Rudy, David Molnar, Dawn Lauber and Gayle Bisesi, saxophonists Andy Tecson, Ken Jandes and Tim Coffman, pianist Bobby Schiff and drummer Jerry Coleman. (Dennis Polkow) Sat/4pm. Lutheran Church of St. Luke, 1500 W. Belmont, (773)472-3383. Free.
OPERA
Roméo et Juliette
Although Gounod’s setting of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” used to be performed almost as routinely as his now ever-more-popular “Faust,” the work fell out of grace somewhere along the way in the States, though it remains an audience favorite in Gounod’s native France. It remains, along with Bellini’s “I Capuletti e i Montecchi” and Leonard Bernstein’s “West Side Story,” one of three remaining music settings of the Bard’s most popular play that are still being performed though there have been dozens of settings that are now long forgotten. One of the problems that Lyric faces in mounting the Gounod version is that the amazing performances of real-life husband and wife Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghui and French-Sicilian tenor Roberto Alagna seven years ago set such a memorable and high bar for these roles: the two not only sang incredibly, but acted as if their honeymoon were still in full swing as the star-crossed lovers. By contrast, we never really buy that Russian soprano Dina Kuznetsova and Wilmette tenor Matthew Polenzani are really in love, nor are they able to sing love duets convincingly given that Kuznetsova’s large and beautiful soprano voice so consistently overpowers Polenzani’s beautiful but diminutive tenor sound. Not helping matters is conductor John Mauceri who pulls out the stops on the Lyric Opera Orchestra so loudly and gracelessly that poor Polenzani is often drowned out to operatic oblivion. Perhaps Italian tenor Massimo Giordano, scheduled to take over for the Dec. 12, 16 and 19 performances will better be able to hold his own. (Dennis Polkow) Sat & Tue/7:30pm. Civic Opera House, Wacker Drive at Madison, (312)332-2244. $31-$179. Through Dec 19.
DANCE
*She/Three
See Tip of the Week.
Thu-Sat/8pm. Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn, (312)337-6543. $20.
*Simply Muntu
“Muntu” is the Bantu tribal word for “essence,” which is what the Muntu Dance Theatre of Chicago seeks to find in its performances emphasizing both ancient and contemporary African culture. Two new Muntu works will be performed: “Rebirth of Culture,” based on traditional dances from Senegal and which includes Sabor Drum Talk, where a battery of drums are used to “talk” by fluctuating pitches with rapid palm and finger movements in imitation of the Wolof tribal language, and “Yanga,” the story of an African enslaved in early seventeenth-century Mexico who became the founder of the first two of free slaves in the Americas. (Dennis Polkow) Thu/7:30pm, Fri/6pm, Sat/8pm, Sun/3pm. Dusable Museum of African American History, 740 E. 64th Place, (773)947-0600. $8-$25.
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