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| Andy Roberts, Elyse Byrne, Amelia Segler, Emma Heesacker, Jessica Gerson, Carl Dahlquist, Nick Serrone, and Max Powell |
By Tina Arth
Twilight’s reentry into the world of live theater continues
with their festive last show of the season, Lucy Williams’ Christmas Shorts. I’ll just put it out there – the show is
unabashedly cheesy, teetering between corn and camp in a thoroughly engaging
way. The series of brief, holiday-themed scenes is billed as a one-act, but
director Chris Byrne’s added musical numbers justify an intermission to break
up such spine-tingling bits as Victoria’s letter to Santa, Bobsled Costa’s
hosting of the Reindeer Games, and As the North Pole Turns, a gripping holiday
soap opera. The show relies on total buy in – not just from the cast, but also
from the audience – and on opening night, everybody on and off stage more than
fulfilled this obligation. From the list of places the show has played, I
suspect that Williams’ original script is significantly more family-friendly,
and thus much less fun, that Byrne’s expanded and occasionally racy production.
The ten cast members each play multiple roles, and without a
program (thanks, Covid!) I won’t try to remember all of the details of who did
what – instead, I’ll just highlight a few memorable moments. The best number in
the show (for me at least) is the updated “Baby It’s Cold Outside” with Elyse
Byrne as the classic 1950s virgin/vamp and Nick Serrone as a very woke, utterly
terrified host frantically trying to get her home with virtue intact. Andy
Roberts is stunningly deadpan as he delivers some of the worst dad and
knock-knock jokes in history, and the entire cast exhibits amazing grace as
they shuffle around the stage on their knees in a thoroughly convincing
impersonation of vertically challenged elves. The sports and accents of the
northern Midwest are well represented in the reindeer curling competition, and
another number proves that Elvis may have left the planet, but he has not left
the building.
William Crawford’s set is bare-bones, but lovely – just a series of sparkly tree cutouts and dangling snowflakes, augmented with quickly deployed set pieces as needed. Triple points to Ward Ramsdell for his imaginative and effective lighting design, which gives depth and a nice dose of magic to the simple set. In addition to directing, Chris Byrne’s costumes add a lot with her whimsical attention to detail. Byrne also draws some very satisfying vocal ensemble work from her cast that really enhances the underlying holiday spirit of the production.
I appreciate Twilight’s adherence to best practices for audience safety by carefully enforcing both vaccine and mask mandates – this makes it possible for many of us to comfortably enjoy their entertaining bit of holiday fluff, something we all crave and deserve after the last two years. The show has only a two-week run – if your plans allow, trek up to North Portland right away!
Twilight Theater Company’s Christmas Shorts is playing at the Performing Arts Theater, 7515 N. Brandon Avenue, Portland through December 19th, with performances at 8 P.M. Thursday - Saturday, and 3:00 PM on Saturday and Sunday.
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