Pike Road: "Elf, the Musical"

Non-stop family entertainment is on display in the Pike Road Theatre Company's delightful production of Elf, the Musical. Running at about two-and-a-half-hours [the time flies by], director-choreographer James Keith Posey has again conscripted a 50+ ensemble of local talents to bring Buddy the Elf's story to effervescent life, closing the Company's Inaugural Season with a sold-out run.

Based on the 2003 film that has become a Holiday staple, we follow the orphaned Buddy's journey as he leaves the North Pole in search of his biological father who is on Santa's "naughty list"-- You see, Buddy [Travis Clark] has been brought up since infancy in Santa's realm believing he is an Elf, but when he finds out he is actually a human...well, the rest is fantasy come true.

Santa Claus [Sam Wallace is near perfection as the "jolly old Elf"] narrates Buddy's episodic escapades that take him to New York on his quest, and where his naïveté becomes the matter for comic misunderstandings that cause him to be accepted by some and mistrusted by others, and only rarely letting disappointments dampen his ever-gleeful demeanor. And we get caught up in all of this through Mr. Clark's ebullient personification.

Walter Hobbs [Jason Isbell] is Buddy's father, a children's book publisher so fixated on his need of a new hit story that he has been ignoring his wife Emily [Stephanie Coppock] and son Michael [Griffin Isbell]; so, when Buddy barges into his life and claims to be not only his long-lost firstborn son but one of Santa's Elves as well, that becomes a bit too much on his plate as Christmas approaches. -- It will take the concerted efforts of family and co-workers to settle matters amicably.

The cast are uniformly solid in depicting an array of characters: from Mrs. Claus [Jennifer Hollett] and a small army of Elves, to a group of Fake Department Store Santas, to a coterie of corporate executives [Matthew Givens is particularly Scrooge-like as Walter's boss, Mr. Greenway], and especially to Jovie [Kristen Vanderwal] Buddy's love-interest, and an outsider, like him who secretly yearns for acceptance and human connection.

But let's not forget that this is a musical [book by Thomas Meehan and Bob Martin, music by Matthew Sklar, and lyrics by Chad Beguelin] replete with solos, duets, small group, and huge neatly choreographed  production numbers, that keep the action moving with a cast of gifted singers. -- The sheer joy that opens the show with "Happy All the Time", sets the appropriate tone, and "Sparklejollytwinklejingley" just about brings the house down. A touching "I'll Believe in You" by Michael and Emily gives hope to Buddy's cause. Jovie's "Never Fall in Love" opens up her inner feelings for our hero. "Nobody Cares About Santa" is a clever twist on childlike beliefs. And "The Story of Buddy" brings the messages home.

The focus is rarely away from Buddy; it takes commitment to sustain such a gleeful role for two acts, and Mr. Clark's infectious enthusiasm carries the day, makes believers of us all, and leaves audiences with renewed commitment to family, love, and acceptance of the goodness in all of us.

Cloverdale Playhouse: "Dot"

Take your pick: Ebenezer Scrooge or George Bailey, Buddy the Elf or The Grinch, The Muppets or Charlie Brown, "Love Actually" or "Die Hard", or countless saccharined Hallmark movies -- the Christmas Season is well underway across the River Region; and families are preparing for their annual treks to gather for celebrations that often come with challenges.

One such family gathering is currently being depicted at The Cloverdale Playhouse in their solid production of Dot [2015] by award winning actor and playwright Colman Domingo. The place is a house in West Philadelphia owned by African-American matriarch Dotty Shealy [Chrystal Bates]. -- J. Scott Grinstead's remarkable set transforms from kitchen to living room between the play's two acts, and it's worth watching the smooth scene change during the intermission.  -- It's a few days before Christmas, and Dotty's three children try to figure out what to do about their Mother's growing dementia. Not your typical Christmas fare.

Shelly [Curtia Torbert] feels overburdened and overwhelmed as her Mother's primary caregiver; son Donnie [Gregory L. Blanche] is an unemployed "musical archivist" in denial about Dotty's condition as well as his own shaky marriage to his white husband Adam [John Selden]; flamboyant youngest sibling Averie [Perci Hale] seems completely fixated on herself. Shelly's white childhood friend Jackie [Annie Gunter], who was Donnie's sometime girlfriend in high school and who still has feelings for him despite his sexual identity, is pregnant by her married lover. And Fidel [Bo Jinright] is an illegal immigrant from Kazakhstan who provides Dotty with compassionate daily attention.

Greg Thornton directs with a sure hand in this two-and-a-half-hour production, creating a tight ensemble of actors by affording each of them appropriate attention and gleaning subtly wrought characterizations. Though the script often devolves into shouting matches, and there are a number of comic one-liners and a lot of adult language in the dialogue, Mr. Thornton's guidance keeps the focus on Dotty's dementia and its effect both on her and her dysfunctional family and extended family.

Ms. Bates is most effective in her portrayal of Dotty's ever-changing demeanor and the devastating effects of old-age: forgetfulness, distraction, and frustration are counterbalanced by Dotty's recognition that she is unwell and her determination to keep her independence as long as possible while ensuring that her children comprehend it by experiencing what she is going through.

We feel for all of them. Anyone who has experienced dementia in their family can understand its effect on its younger members: denial, reluctance to find professional help, long-held sibling rivalries, as well as happier memories that surface when the situation seems unbearable. So, audiences are conscripted into this world.

Though it takes a while to unravel, and for the participants to put aside their grievances in order to agree on a course of action that is best for everyone, the evening at the Playhouse with Dot and her family should give audiences a sense of family unity for the holiday season.

Millbrook: "A Doublewide, Texas Christmas"

In case you didn't know, "Doublewide" is a fictitious unincorporated town in Texas, population 10, and named for the proliferation of doublewide trailers of the citizenry.

In this iteration of the franchise by Jessie Jones, Jamie Wooten, and Nicholas Hope -- A Doublewide, Texas Christmas --the town's eccentric inhabitants try against the odds to raise funds, increase the population, and submit legal paperwork for incorporation before a Christmas deadline to avoid being subsumed by a larger rival community.

The improbability of the plot points and antics of the assorted residents hardly matter; audiences are simply along for a silly and mostly predictable ride over the play's two acts. -- The production could benefit from quicker scene changes and more clarity in spoken dialogue.

Director Susan Chain has assembled an ensemble of Millbrook and other River Region actors who valiantly bring the familiarity of small-town Texas to unconventional and all-too-familiar life. Ginger Collum, Kisti Taylor, Ashlee Lassiter, John Chain, Pat McClelland, Bill Rauch, Marcella Willis, Margaret White, and [in the night I saw it] Michael Snead play the script's broadly comic scenes to the hilt, and deliver some sensitive moments as well.

Despite their characters' inflated egos, family strife, political haranguing, attempts at oneupmanship, deliberate sabotage, faux celebrity, and chaotic resolutions, the ending stresses the theme of the inherent good will of Doublewide's populace, their ability to respectfully settle their differences, and their camaraderie in working together for a worthy cause that will leave a warm spot in the hearts of Millbrook's theatregoers this Christmas Season.

ASF: "It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play"

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past 70+ years, you'll know Frank Capra's 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life [some afficionados can quote extensively from it verbatim], so there will be few revelations in re-telling the narrative of George Bailey's Christmas Eve journey from despair and potential suicide to his reclamation through the efforts of Angel Second-class Clarence, who shows him that life in Bedford Falls would have been very different if George had never been born.

The film has been a holiday staple for decades, and staged versions have graced River Region stages twice since 2014. And now, once again here comes Joe Landry's heartwarming adaptation: It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play on the Alabama Shakespeare Festival's Octagon Stage. -- This iteration re-imagines the story as a 1946 radio transmission, with five actors each playing numerous characters while also working as Foley-artists who supply all the sound effects from strategically placed props -- a lot of work. [Close your eyes for a while to get the feeling that you're listening to an actual radio broadcast -- nostalgia for some, and a new experience for others].

In a fast-paced hour and forty minutes, director Kate Bergstrom locates the script's "Playhouse on the Air"  in "ASF Studio", incorporates familiar local references as well as "commercials" for Chris' Hot Dogs and Liger's Bakery into the mix, and has us conscripted as the radio station's audience with lighted signs for "Applause" at signal moments of the plot.

An-Lin Dauber's grand, detailed, and multi-leveled set is dressed for the holidays and becomes another "character" in the staging; Val Winkelman's period-perfect costumes compliment the assorted roles each of the five actors must play, with simple adjustments or additions of hats, coats, or collars to specify a character.

The versatility of the acting company is on full display throughout. William DeMeritt [George Bailey +], Evan Andrew Horwitz [Clarence +], Jimmy Kieffer [Mr. Potter +], Madeline Lambert [Mary +], and Cassandra Lopez [Violet +] are a fine-tuned ensemble who tell the story with heartfelt aplomb. They are abetted by Brooke Morgan as the Station's Production Assistant, Belinda.

As George's predicament is told in flashback sequences from his childhood on to the present, we see his unfulfilled dreams, and the sacrifices he made that bring him to the brink of bankruptcy and despair, believing he is worth more dead than alive. But there are lessons to be learned through laughter and tears that his kindness to others and being a man of principle compel the community to rally around him in his need and show him that he is "the richest man in town".