Home for the Holidays: The Needed Christmas Cheer

Written By: Luke Osteen | Issue: Whats News

The joyful and astonishing Home for the Holidays is playing at Highlands Performing Arts Center through December 24. For tickets or information, visit mountaintheatre.com.

In the deepest depths of my Luke-ness, I’ve wished that I was living the life of Indiana Jones, traveling the globe in the quest for archeological treasures, putting my vast mental library of esoteric and useless trivia to work in the service of puzzle-solving, impressing Natascha McElhone with my relentless charm and courage.

Well, it turns out that I’ve somehow been living in one of those Hallmark Holiday Movies that jam the streamers from November 1 through the second week of January.

You know the Formula: A harried professional (that’d be me, trying to get Laurel’s Winter 2024 Issue out the door) refuses to witness the holiday magic that’s unfolding around his little town (that’s the entire Plateau) until Santa decides to go undercover and magically young-ify himself (that’s of course Mountain Theatre Company’s Impresario Scott Daniel – with his ice-cracking sly smile and eyes that crinkle just like that Jolly Old Elf) to teach said professional the True Meaning of Christmas (and the appendant Holidays) with the help of his Elves and Mrs. Claus (that’d be the Marvelous 2023 Version of MTC’s Home for the Holidays and its cast of supremely talented vocalists and dancers).

Who knew that those video chestnuts could unfold in the real world?

But there I was at the Highlands Performing Arts Center on Opening Night, with the demands of publishing tick, tick, ticking in my brain, until the lights went down, and I surrendered to the relentlessly upbeat spirit of this 21st Century version of those old Celebrity Christmas Specials that were a staple of 20th Century America.

The show launched with the entire cast exploding with “Celebration,” a performance that spread across the stage and snaked through the audience. How on earth could my Laurel obligations stand up to that glorious invitation? 

This was followed by “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” – performed by Lori Nielsen, Erin Leigh Knowles, Kate Jarecki, and Audrey Button – which set the tone for the evening and outlined the challenges that the Elves and Mrs. Claus would surmount to ensure that Santa’s mission was a success. 

As a counterpoint to the high spirits and hijinks, Sam Alan Johnson treated us to “You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch.” In my review of last year’s Home for the Holidays, I mentioned that Mr. Johnson was clearly channeling the late Thurl Ravenscroft’s immortal How the Grinch Stole Christmas version. I’d like to amend that – he’s taken that classic rendering and added depths of wickedness and vague menace, making it clearly his own, superior tune. When combined with Troy Serena’s slithery prowl through the decorated homes of Whoville, you’ve got a Holiday Favorite that Chuck Jones could only dream about. 

Speaking of unlikely Christmas tunes, let’s take a moment and reflect on the inclusion of “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” in this bubbly, slightly off-center confection. As far as I can tell, this goofy paean to holiday mayhem was unceremoniously yanked from the American Songbook in the late 80s, expired with a stake of holly driven through its goofy heart, and buried in an overgrown field just behind Tin Pan Alley. Kudos to Director/Writer/Showman Daniel for not simply resurrecting this lost classic, but dusting it off and giving new, even sillier resonance when performed by the ensemble. 

Speaking of dusting off a classic, I challenge you to glance away while Kate Jarecki slinks and shimmies through “Santa Baby” – she outshines Marilyn Monroe and delivers a performance that’s the equal to Kylie Minogue’s transcendent interpretation. I know Santa would be hard pressed to resist those impassioned imprecations and dangerous curves. (Still, I’m confident that he’d be faithful to Lori Nielsen’s magnificent Mrs. Claus.)

In fact, Ms. Nielsen hushed the entire raucous audience with her spellbinding piano/vocal performance of “We Are Lights.” What a poignant piece, and what an eloquent reply to a darkened world awash with “war, poverty, and tyranny, and the assaults upon human dignity that are the most grievous consequences of each,” to quote Adlai Stevenson during an equally dark time. 

This astonishing performance was followed in quick succession by “Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy” – Troy Serena and Sam Alan Johnson, permanently relegating Messrs. Crosby and Bowie to runner-up status with their interpretation – and “O Holy Night” by Emanuel Carrero and the ensemble – with Carrero once more summoning his beautiful vocal control (which he’d previously displayed as Frankie Valle in MTC’s summer production of Jersey Boys). 

If you’re not left astonished and profoundly touched by this trio of performances, well, maybe your heart is two sizes too small. See a specialist.

Balancing out the solemnity are the full-throated celebrations of “Sleigh Ride” and “Joy” by Erin Leigh Knowles; “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” by Audrey Button; the clever “Hot Chocolate” by Troy Serena (how clever? They’re selling enhanced hot chocolate in the lobby) irresistible in in its playfulness; and “A Hand for Mrs. Claus,” by Macy Watts, which turns out to be a showcase for Ms. Watts, who until this number had kept her considerable talents carefully hidden.

And there’s no way we can ignore the instincts and imagination of Ms. Knowles and Mr. Daniel, the show’s choreography team. The cast is in constant motion, and their movement is both exhilarating and evocative. 

The sum of all this is – by the end of the performance, this writer, who arrived brittle and worn ragged by the demands of his job, had dissolved into a puddle of warm Christmas cheer.

Kind of like Ebenezer Scrooge at the end of A Christmas Carol, 

“He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him.”

So, you see, the evening felt like, if not Mr. Scrooge’s astonishing journey, then one of those Hallmark movies that somehow pull you in, the kind where Santa and his elves (or Mr. Daniel and his performers) labor (with joy in their hearts) to remind you of the Magic of the Season.   

Or, to quote another beloved Christmas character, Buddy the Elf, “The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear!”