THE PLAY: When a young boy requests gender-atypical gifts for Christmas, it causes strife at home and disruption at the North Pole.
THE PRODUCTION: This is a review of the streaming version(s).
The play’s concept loses some of its potential from the clunky writing that’s more about message than comedy. The laughs come from the performances.
Eddie Webster is billed as the show’s star and his performance was energetic. However his clipped delivery rendered some of the monologue indecipherable, so I stopped watching after about 30 minutes. The placement of the microphone near the back of the theatre added ambient noise and contributed to the sound issues (a body or stage mics would have eliminated this problem).
Fortunately, Levi Meerovich (in the understudy version) has a big mouth! His projection and measured speech made it easier to follow, so I watched the entire show. His character creations and sharp timing add humorous highlights and even a few touching moments.
First time director Nora Ogunleye kept the pace lively, but added little inventiveness to the staging. Considering current the political climate it’s also surprising that one of the gay characters is rendered in what some might now consider extremely offensive flamboyance. Lucian Restivo designed the set, which consists of three arches with holiday trim, indiscernible writing on the floor and two TV monitors (which are often hard to read and seem more trendy than functional, while not adding anything to the design or narrative). He also did the costume, which for some unexplained reason, puts the actor is PJs and a robe.
The show is captured by one camera with a full stage view and a 2nd camera in a medium-wide focal length that never offers any opportunity for close-up or medium shots.
(2 / 5)