In an essay published in 1919, Viktor Shklovsky observed that great art flows not from the expression of the unfamiliar but from the uncommon ability to make the familiar suddenly seem strange and wonderful.
Now, one might think that Chicago theater during the run-up to Christmas occupies a different aesthetic universe from anything ever imagined by a Russian formalist theorist. But when you are trying to decide to which theater to take your family this holiday season (and stakes can be high), Shklovsky’s wise words are a good consumer test.
At this time of year, most of us seek out the comforts of traditional themes and icons–be they Christmas tree, carols or the Rockettes. Even those born with “Bah! Humbug” on their lips at least expect the target of holiday satire of choice to be Christmas cliches or excesses. But even as you settle back into a show you’ve seen before, or a story that was read to you as a child, the best holiday theater makes everything feel new and unfamiliar. And as the tale slips down the throat like a hot chocolate, it should also reveal new truths about the human condition.
– This quality is why “Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol,” the one-person show at the Goodman Theatre written and performed by Tom Mula, is such a splendid and invigorating evening. Shaped, honed and trimmed after its debut in 1998, it’s now in peak condition.
For several years, Mula performed the role of Scrooge in the traditional Dickensian extravaganza that takes place annually across the Goodman hall. But he has now penned his own, freewheeling version of the Dickens classic, except the familiar tale is told from the perspective of Jacob Marley.
A fellow skinflint who enjoyed no early warnings, Marley is the fellow who comes back to warn his mean-spirited ex-partner of the perils of being a tightwad. In the original “A Christmas Carol,” Marley is a shadowy figure who is assigned little motivation or explanation by an author more concerned with Tiny Tim.
But in Mula’s warm and inviting hands, Marley becomes a tortured but poignant and ultimately redeemed soul who personally stage-manages Scrooge’s reformation and finds his own redemption therein. Freeing the tale from period and exploring its cosmic dimension with anachronistic language and conversational relish, Mula talks for about two hours and plays all the parts, both Dickensian characters and those of his own invention. There are no flashy effects–just one of Chicago’s best actors on a fantastical but somehow entirely empathetic journey.
Not only does Mula capture the gently socialist message of the original tale (we seem to like that at Christmas, dot-com capitalist frenzy or no), but he also cleverly explains those long-troubling issues in the original–like why the spirits do everything in one night and why the Ghost of Christmas Future never speaks. It’s an inspired and moving story that makes all that old stuff about ghosts and graves seem both immediate and revelatory.
– The Bailiwick Repertory Theatre’s production of “A Christmas Schooner” is much newer stuff. But this musical by John Reeger and Julie Shannon nonetheless relies on the usual Christmas themes of the importance of family, community sacrifice and doing good.
But aside from a wonderfully tuneful score that will have you humming out on the street, this long-lasting show is special because it focuses on a Midwestern story that comes without seasonal baggage. The boat in question here bears Christmas trees for lonely Chicago immigrants, and the turn-of-the-century hero is a Michigan captain who wants to share his bounty from the new world with people who miss the Tannenbaum.
The “Schooner” has been sailing at the Bailiwick for five years. But if you have never seen this show, this is the best year to catch it. The potential was already there when the production was first mounted by David Zak, but the finish was rough and the singing uneven. Things have greatly improved. This time around, “Schooner” feels like an off-Loop “Les Miserables,” replete with full-throated singing, sharp comedy, deft staging (by Zak and Adam Theisen) and much yanking of emotional strings. The new slickness though, has depleted none of the show’s heart. When he started in the role of Gustav Stossel, Tom Higgins seemed like a minor cameo. He now commands the stage and gives the show most of its weight.
– Also at the Bailiwick, the story of Mrs. Coney has been expanded over the years. This Christmas, Belinda Bremner’s simple but quite involving tale of the little boy from the dust bowl who moves to Kentucky and encounters a magical old lady has been moved to the mainstage.
“Mrs. Coney” is a less polished affair than “Schooner,” but it’s a warm 90-minute show and a good choice for anyone who misses the rural traditions of storytelling and the singing of seasonal carols with roots more in Appalachia than an English cathedral. Gail Curry is terrific as Mrs. Coney and the energetic guitar playing more than compensates for some uneven singing in the ensemble.
– If kids on stage and tales of selflessness in the snow are your least favorite way to mark the season, the cynical branch of the Chicago theater scene offers at least two very decent attractions for misanthropic anti-materialists. At the Victory Gardens Studio, Roadworks productions is reprising its funny and intelligent production of “SantaLand Diaries,” two seasonal monologues taken from the jottings of David Sedaris, a wickedly funny humorist best known for his monologues that are heard on National Public Radio.
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Directed by Halena Kays, this year’s show is notable for a couple of wickedly funny performances (which is just as well, since there is not much formal staging). But with his sallow cheeks, raspy voice and slightly twisted smile, actor David Cromer is the ideal delivery person for the cynical story of life in the underbelly of a department story Christmas grotto, where ugly materialism is laid bare with the surrealism. Cromer is preceded by the gooey Laura T. Fisher, an upper-middle-class matron whose smile never slips as she recounts the progressive disintegration of her dysfunctional family.
– Over at Sweetback Productions, they call the materialistic holiday juggernaut “Christmas Inc.,” and they’ve created a Santa so ugly that he has turned Mrs. C. into a walking medicine cabinet. Also in its second year, “Rudolph the Red-Hosed Reindeer” is a wickedly nasty Christmas musical, complete with all kinds of wacky comic personages and enough anti-establishment venom to melt an iceberg. Previously performed at the now defunct Sweetcorn Playhouse, this year’s rouge-wearing mammal is tossing his antlers in a bigger house over at the American Theater Company.
Aside from Rudy the cross-dressing reindeer, the other fellow at the heart of David Cerda’s show is an ostracized elf; both leads are superbly played. This year’s show suffers from playing in a much less intimate theater than the inaugural effort, but most of the original cast is back for the fun.
They’ve even slated a show on Christmas Eve so you can have an excuse to get away from your family. Or maybe you could take them with you. It’s Christmas, after all.
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Goodman Studio Theatre, 312-443-3800; Bailiwick Repertory Theatre, 773-883-1090; Victory Gardens Studio 773-871-3000; Sweetback Productions 312-409-3925.