"Miracle on Christmas Lake" at Yellow Tree Theatre

Miracle on Christmas Lake is not your typical holiday classic. Instead of figgy pudding, sleigh rides, and angels, you get lost lizards, moon boots, and tater tot hot dish. And yet it deservedly has become a classic. This Yellow Tree Theatre play written quickly out of desperation is returning for its fourth year, and it's one of their most popular shows of the season and has even inspired a sequel. It's not really a surprise - the show is quirky and funny and a little outrageous, but at its heart it's about friends and family working together to create something they believe in and that enriches their community (not unlike Yellow Tree Theatre itself). What better way to celebrate the holiday season? Yellow Tree co-founder Jessica Lind Peterson wrote the play for their first season five years ago and directs for the first time this year. There are more than a few auto-biographical elements in the play, along with a bunch of ridiculous (but true) Minnesota stereotypes. Even though this is my fourth time visiting Christmas Lake (my second time seeing the original, and I also saw the sequel twice), it never fails to delight and entertain.

Quick plot summary (it's delightfully preposterous, so hang in there): Colin's father has died and left him a theater in the small Minnesota town of Christmas Lake (think snowcats and lutefisk and church basements). He has returned to his hometown with his wife Tess after leaving New York City and his successful career as a soap opera actor.* At the last minute, the rights to their annual Christmas show, It's a Wonderful Life, are pulled, forcing them to come up with a new production in a short amount of time (this really happened to Yellow Tree, which was the genesis of this show). The only actors they can get are the moon boot-wearing lizard-loving massage therapist Martha and the Little House on the Prairie-obsessed piano tuner Neil. They decide to stage a Christmas episode of Colin's soap As Time Ticks By (fun fact: Yellow Tree co-founder Jason Peterson had a small role in my favorite soap-that-is-no-longer, As the World Turns) to appeal to their greatest benefactor Mrs. Burlington. She's a big fan of the soap and Colin, and agrees to play a role in the show. Opening night arrives and everything falls apart, but in a so-bad-it's-good Producers sort of way. The show is a hit, the theater is saved, and Colin and Tess decide to stay in Christmas Lake and build the theater and their lives in this quirky little town they've come to love.

Some of my favorite things about Christmas Lake:

• Martha and Neil are the most adorable and funny nerds you've seen in a long time. Martha (played by the delightful Debra Berger, who BTW starred in one of my favorite Fringe shows this summer) wears moon boots, has a pet lizard, loves The Sound of Music, and makes a mean tater tot hot dish. Neil (once again played by Ryan Nelson, who never fails to crack me up) begins every conversation with "that reminds me of a very special episode of Little House on the Prairie."
• But to balance out that craziness, you need someone down-to-earth and relatable, and we have that in Tess (Brittany Parker) and Colin (Josef Buchel, reprising his role from last year's sequel). Both actors are charming and natural, with a believable chemistry. And they get to play a little crazy in the soap opera play.
• Janet Hanson plays two very different characters - the relatively normal Minnesota mom Gloria and the over-the-top eccentric rich lady of Christmas Lake.
• Being a lifelong soap fan, I love the very recognizable soap opera references, from sperm stealing and evil twins to a powerful businessman named Victor (Icon, not Newman).
• Neil's puppet, which I believe is new to this year's production, is as weird and wonderful as the original. He even has his own bio in the playbill.
  
• Tess (Brittany)'s sweet and sad rendition of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" does sound, as Gloria points out, a little like that folky singer with the crooked teeth.
• The eclectic holiday songs played during scene changes are so appropriate and unique that I want them all on a soundtrack!
• The set (designed by Katie Phillips) is a rustic and homey barn/theater and makes great use of Yellow Tree's small intimate space.

One thing I don't like about Christmas Lake:

• The hairy mole. It completely grosses me out in a way that's not even funny. Seriously, ew.

If you've never paid a visit to Christmas Lake, I highly recommend it as a silly and sweet new holiday classic. And even if you've been there several times, there's always something new to experience (playing now through December 29).


*I know it was said in jest, but soap opera actors can act, especially NYC soap opera actors - see Stephen Schnetzer in the recent play Tribes at the Guthrie as one example.

"Miracle on Christmas Lake II" at Yellow Tree Theatre

"A Little Bit of Lovin' and a Christmas Tree." That's the theme song of this year's rendition of Yellow Tree Theatre's annual holiday show, Miracle on Christmas Lake II* (presented for the second year in a row after a successful three-year run of the original Miracle on Christmas Lake). The song is a pretty good description of the plot as well - the "Loving" being represented by nerdy soulmates Martha and Neil and small town theater owners Colin and Tess, and the "Christmas Tree" taking the form of a silly costume that Colin wears in the pageant thrown together at the last minute. But more than that, it's about a small community pulling together to save their beloved small town way of life. Not your average sugar-coated Christmas treat, Miracle on Christmas Lake II is silly and preposterous and hilarious and heart-warming.

In the ridiculous (in a good way) plot, the entire town of Christmas Lake comes down with the goat flu (which causes its victims to make strange bleating noises and eat garbage), and is also in danger of annexation by neighboring town Potterton. Colin and Tess must put on a successful Christmas show to impress the Hollywood producer wanting to film a movie in Christmas Lake, which will save the town. It's the pretty much the same show as last year (written by Jessica Lind Peterson and directed by Jason Peterson, founders of the theater), with a few little tweaks and mostly new cast. The one constant in the five years of Christmas Lake is Yellow Tree regular Ryan Nelson as the Little House on the Prairie-obsessed piano tuner Neil, who thinks acting means doing an impression. He grows funnier and nerdier every year, and never fails to crack me up. Debra Berger ably takes on the role of Neil's girlfriend, the Sound of Music-loving Martha with a pet lizard and a mean tater tot hotdish recipe. Neil and Martha's big romantic moment is crowned with a rendition of (what else) "Something Good" from Sound of Music (the movie, but not the original stage musical, which had a song called "An Ordinary Couple" in its place, which has just outed me as a fellow nerd - maybe that's why I love Neil and Martha so much). Josef Buchel (the charming gentleman caller) and Rachel Petrie (of Four Humors Theater) play the only normal people in town, Christmas Lake native Colin and his wife Tess, who run the local community theater and try to corral these crazies into some semblance of a theatrical production. The charismatic Andy Frye returns as the Hollywood location scout with a secret, only this time he's given a new name (Stefan Stefanjovak) and a vaguely Eastern European accent. Rounding out the cast is Charles Fraser playing several characters, each one more quirky and outrageous than the last. The entire cast plays well together. One of the best examples of this is a fabulous slow-mo fight between Neil and Stefan over Martha. Hilarious and deftly executed.

Over the last three years I've grown to love the residents of the fictional town of Christmas Lake, which will seem familiar to any Minnesotan (you can read more about last year's version of the show here, and about the original play here). I hope to return for many years to come. Jason says in this article in the StarTrib that there are plans for a third play. Until then, check out this trailer featuring scenes from the show accompanied by one of my favorite local musicians (thanks to Yellow Tree) Blake Thomas** singing "A Little Bit of Lovin' and a Christmas Tree" (I'm still waiting for it to be released as a single). In the show, the cast sings the song and it sounds quite lovely - several of these actors are hiding great voices behind their comedy.



Miracle on Christmas Lake II from Yellow Tree Theatre on Vimeo.


*I received two complementary tickets to Miracle on Christmas Lake II, and brought along nine more friends who happily purchased tickets, even though many of them had seen the show last year. It's a really fun group outing, especially when paired with dinner at Nectar Wine Bar in adorable downtown Osseo.

**Blake Thomas is writing a new original musical Stay Tuned to be presented at Yellow Tree Theatre next spring, with help from his lovely and talented wife Mary Fox and Stefan Stefanjovak himself, Andy Frye (who is also directing Yellow Tree's next show, Circle Mirror Transformation, which I called "a quiet, real, completely satisfying exploration of five intersecting lives" when I saw it at the Guthrie in 2010). More information on both shows here.

"The Glass Menagerie" at Yellow Tree Theatre

The Glass Menagerie is the final play in Yellow Tree Theatre's fourth season, and it's a great conclusion to an entertaining season. Written by one of the greatest American playwrights (and one of my favorites), Tennessee Williams, this play is a nice choice for Yellow Tree and fits their intimate style and space very well. The Wingfield family's dysfunctions feel very real and close as you sit just a few feet away from the action. The Glass Menagerie has long been one of my favorite plays. It's a self-described "memory play" in which one of the main characters, Tom, introduces and narrates the action, as well as taking part in it. He has several soliloquies, filled with such beautiful language: "Yes, I have tricks in my pockets, I have things up my sleeve. But I am the opposite of a stage magician. He gives you illusion that has the appearance of truth. I give you truth in the pleasant disguise of illusion." Such is theater - truth in the disguise of illusion. Of all Williams' plays, this is the one that contains the most truths about his life and his past. Perhaps that's why it's so bittersweet.

A mother and her two adult children live in a small apartment in St. Louis in the late 1930s. Tom dutifully supports the family by working at a shoe factory, where he feels stifled and bored with life. Laura has a slight physical impairment that has caused her to become reclusive, wanting nothing more than to stay in the apartment, listen to records on the Victrola, and arrange her glass figurines, her menagerie. Their mother, Amanda, is constantly nagging her children - telling Tom how to chew his food and how to sit at the table, cajoling Laura into leaving the house to attend business school or entertain a "gentleman caller." She's a stereotypical fading Southern belle, who talks constantly of her glorious past and happy youth; she performs a memory play of her own for her children. She wants Laura to be as popular as she was, but Laura is nothing like her, and the time and place they live in is nothing like the one in which she came of age. The situation turns tragic as the gentleman caller experiment fails miserably, Tom leaves the family to find his fortune in the world, and Laura is left with her glass menagerie.

Tom (Jason Peterson) and his mother (Katherine Ferrand);
the looks say it all

Noted Twin Cities director Jon Cranney brings out the best in this fantastic four-person cast. Katherine Ferrand plays Amanda Wingfield, one of the greatest roles in American theater, and she knocks it out of the park. She's always talking, always fluttering about, telling endless stories, with lots of energy hiding a deep sense of desperation (like many of Williams' women). Katherine's sharp performance alone is worth the trip to Osseo! Yellow Tree Artistic Director Jason Peterson plays Tom, another great role. He speaks in memory-tinged melancholy as he narrates the scenes, with quietly controlled anger and restlessness in the scenes with his family. I was curious to see Carolyn Trapskin as Laura because her previous roles at Yellow Tree have been so crazy and over-the-top; this is a much more internal character than I've seen her play before, and she does it very well. Laura always breaks my heart, perhaps because I find myself relating to her, and this production is no exception. Finally, Josef Buchel is everything you want the gentleman caller to be - bright and charming, friendly and talkative with everyone he meets, but hiding an insecurity and uncertainty with life. Part of the tragedy is that Jim and Laura really do get along well, and she's able to open up to him somewhat, making them (and us) believe that things could have gone differently if the situation were different. But there are no happy endings with Tennessee Williams, only deep explorations of family, relationships, and societal bonds.

Laura (Carolyn Trapskin)
and her gentleman caller (Josef Buchel)

The stage at Yellow Tree is tiny, but they always seem to transform it into what's needed. This time the set (by Jeffrey Petersen) is a somewhat shabby but homey little apartment, with sloping wood floors and a small dining room separated by a curtain from the main living area, sparsely decorated with photos and mementos. I don't usually comment on (or notice) the lighting, but the candlelight scenes with Jim and Laura were beautifully done (lighting by Paola Rodriguez); it felt as if we were watching an intimate moment play out in the soft glow of candles.

Yellow Tree Theatre has recently announced their new season and it looks like another great one. I'm most excited to see Circle Mirror Transformation, a great character piece I saw at the Guthrie studio a few years ago which should be a great fit for Yellow Tree - intimate, funny, poignant, and full of awkward pauses and weird acting class exercises. And of course, nothing piques my interest like the words "new original musical," especially when the authors are one of my favorite local musicians, Blake Thomas, along with great Yellow Tree actors Mary Fox and Andy Frye. So if you missed out on this production (only two more performances, sorry for the late review), you have some great choices next season to visit Yellow Tree Theatre in charming Osseo, where good stories live.