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Scrooge gets dragged out of the closet
he holiday season is full of all sorts of fluffy
things: fluffy snow, fluffy trees, fluffy pres
ents, fluffy songs. And every year, like
clockwork, two entertainment events hap
pen to lend a little depression to our holiday
cheer, although each has an uplifting message.
It’s a W onderful Life and A Christmas C arol
are as regular as an old-timer on bran, and you
can catch them in umpteen versions on televi
sion or stage. But this holiday season, triangle
productions! is putting a queer spin on the fes
tivities with a fluffy production of A G ay
Christmas C arol.
Ebenezer Scrooge (James Lawrence) is a
heartless money lender who has kept his gay side
hidden ever since his partner (in both meanings
of the word), Jacob Marley, passed away in an
unfortunate hair dryer accident. Scrooge works
his lesbian assistant, Bobbi Cratchett (a Clark
Kent-looking Michelle Seaton) until she’s about
to drop and cares little about her or her wife
Martinas (Tori Zanzalari) adopted gay stepchild,
Tiny Tim (James W. Peppers).
Scrooge is also grouchy with his granola-
dyke niece Fredricka (Sharon Mann), refusing
to attend her Christmas party. But on Christ
mas Eve, he is visited by the ghost of Marley
(Todd Chatalas), who is a precursor to the
Spirit of Christmas Past, Judy Garland (Jodi
Eichelberger), Christmas Present, Liza Minelli
(Eichelberger again), Bette Midler (Gary Nor
man) and the hood-wearing Ghost of Christ
mas Future (Chatalas again).
I won’t spoil the ending for you, other than
to say you probably know what it is, as the tone
of the play veers little from Charles Dickens’
original. The text, however, is campier than an
episode of Will & G race, and many of the
actors mug shamelessly to the audience, eye
popping and telegraphing punch lines like
aging vaudevillians. T he comparison to a sit
com is not far off, as the humor in the play
comes fast and furious, with verbal gags side by
side to physical slapstick.
As befits a play with “Carol" in the title—
but differing from most “straight” versions—
this also has a selection of musical numbers,
but the mixture o f songs makes it tonally and
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Putting the fun in dysfunctional fam
emotionally schizophrenic. Some are rewritten
parodies of other songs, while some are sung
seriously (as several of Judy Garland’s num
bers). Eichelberger has a strong voice and
sounds something like Garland (although
much less like Minelli), but Peppers shows he’s
not so tiny with a vocal number that is well-
sung, crisply emotional and heartbreaking.
Most of the cast members show up in multi
ple parts, with Mann showing the most range
as both tofu-loving PC lesbian Fredricka and a
leather-wearing, Xena-worshipping Brooklyn -
esque baby dyke. Director Angela Keene makes
the best use of a too-barren stage and deserves
kudos for her casting of several “nontradition-
al” heavier actors in major roles.
I enjoyed A G ay Christmas C arol while
watching it, but like any light and airy confec
tion, it wasn’t tremendously emotionally satis
fying in the long run. That isn’t what it’s
meant to be, however. A G ay Christmas C arol
is meant to be campy, corny, queer fluff, and it
succeeds in being just that. j n
A G ay C hristmas C arol runs through
D ec. 23 at Theater! Theatre!, 3430 S .E . Belmont
St. For tickets call the box office at 503-239-59/9
or Fastixx.
A ndy M angels wore his first facial hair as a
young performer m a production o f A Christmas
Carol, and he now sports an infamously large
mustache. H e is a longtime entertainment writer,
and you can write him at A M angelsSW @ aol.com .
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