Holiday* comedies are a tradition at
Yellow Tree Theatre since the very beginning of their 18 seasons, when co-founder Jessica Lind Peterson wrote
an original play about a small town theater couple that had to come up with a new Christmas show when the rights to the show they were planning to do were pulled, because, you guessed it, the rights to the show they were planning to do were pulled. This art-imitating-life creation spawned a franchise of goofy Minnesota holiday shows that Yellow Tree did for many years, and now under new Artistic Director of the last several years Austene Van, they're continuing this holiday comedy tradition. This year's selection is one we haven't seen at Yellow Tree before, but shares a similar theme with that first holiday comedy.
A Christmas Carol... More or Less is about another small town theater couple in crisis, and the theater magic they create using Dickens' classic story of redemption and generosity. It's fun and funny and heart-warming, featuring a fantastic two-person cast in an immersive and gently participatory experience in Yellow Tree's intimate space. And since I'm not the only one who loves this Yellow Tree holiday comedy tradition, the show is close to selling out the entire run,
so get your tickets now!
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| Charlie (Paul LaNave) and Sarah (Kate Beahen, photo by Alex Clark) |
The show begins when theater owner Sarah (played by the fabulous Kate Beahen using all of her skills) walks out on stage and talks to the audience, vamping until the cast of
A Christmas Carol arrives. Soon her husband Charlie (Paul LaNave in a convincing portrayal of a jerk of a husband who learns to appreciate what he has) shows up and tells her that the entire cast and crew went skiing and a snowstorm is preventing them from getting back to the theater, and his flight to L.A. has been cancelled. Turns out Sarah and Charlie's marriage is on the rocks, and he's decided to leave her and their four-year-old son to try to make it as a screenwriter in L.A. But before he leaves, Sarah convinces Charlie to help her perform
A Christmas Carol with just the two of them playing all the parts and running all the tech. Which is exactly what happens, much to the audience's delight. Paul as Charlie plays Scrooge and a few other parts, while Kate as Sarah plays everyone else. It's really a joy to watch them enact this familiar story with ingenuity and playfulness.
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Paul LaNave as Charlie as Scrooge's nephew and
Kate Beahen as Sarah as his wife (photo by Alex Clark) |
Speaking of ingenuity and playfulness, the piece is directed by Markell Kiefer, co-creator of one of my
all-time favorite theater experiences Nature. She definitely knows how to create "theater magic" (as she talks about in
her program note) with physicality and music and silliness and heart. Kate and Paul both gamely jump into this spirit, and play two levels of the story - Sarah and Charlie and their contentious relationship, and Dickens' classic story of a hardened heart softening. Watching the two realities intersect and overlap is the best part of this show. And even though this would be a great 90-minute-no-intermission show, if not for the intermission, these two actors are working hard, literally running all over the theater, so I'll allow it.
Another part of the fun of the show is watching these two change costumes and sets and run backstage to work the lighting and sound effects. What starts as an empty stage, with a few openings for doors and windows in the back wall and green curtains hinting at the "backstage" that we can see, turns into the multiple locations of A Christmas Carol with a few set pieces quickly rolled onstage. The bed fits neatly in a hole in the wall, and turns around to reveal a tombstone, and the Cratchit dinner table is piled high with prop food (another reason for the intermission). The lights and sounds are almost another character in the play, as they have to go off (or not) as the script describes, and it's done well. Sarah is dressed in black because "it goes with anything," which allows her to play many characters by donning coats and hats and scarves, while Charlie throws Scrooge's coat or robe over his street clothes. (Scenic design by Erica Zaffarano, sound design by Matthew Vichlach, lighting design by Sarah Brander, props design by Jacelyn Stewart, and costume design by K. Marie Mielke.)
A Christmas Carol... More or Less is a fun new take on a beloved classic, that still conveys the message of forgiveness and redemption, while having a little fun with the storytelling.
