Wednesday, December 15, 2021

Christmas Shorts Balances On A Fine Line

 

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.