Worcester County Light Opera Company brought in the holiday season with a big dose of mirth on Friday evening, with Michael Celularo’s frothy pastiche of favorite holiday songs hung like Christmas tree ornaments on a simple story line that could have come straight from the MGM musical film factory. A snowstorm on Christmas Eve strands a group of people, headed for various destinations, at a bus station. Some of them already know each other: David (David White) and his Uncle Oscar (Victor Kruczynski Jr.), who manages the station, and the resident bag lady, Maxie Bright (Linda Johnson), once a budding Broadway star until her agent ran off with all her money. An offstage muse (Gail Swain) speaks periodically to David, encouraging him to bring the spirit of Christmas to these wayward passengers. One of them, Marjorie (Lela Male), is a Holly Golightly type socialite obliviously entombed within her materialistic mind set, and as played with refined hauteur by Male, you really believe her when she sings “Think of No One But Me.” Ah, but not to worry, by the time we listen to her cheer up two young siblings, Joey (Sean Coyle) and Mary (Corie Welch), on “My Favorite Things,” she’s a completely transformed lady. Alex (Hans Foy) is a tall cowboy nervous about finally proposing to his sweetheart. Mrs. Sandpiper (JoAnn Coran-Kiefer) is in charge of a group of carolers. The singing trio of the Doone Sisters are about to open their act at a Holiday Inn. Lana (Barbara St. Pierre), Lorna (Elizabeth Wall), and Lena (Caitlin Sargent) amplify the old movie musical ambience with their Andrews Sisters-level harmony on “I Wish I Were In Love Again,” “Mister Santa” and “Santa Baby.” The hilariously mugging Kruczynski joined in on “Santa Baby,” which emerged as the show’s anointed crowd pleaser. Sparkling in their red satin costumes, St. Pierre, Wall and Sargent are a constant delight to see and hear. “Stuck on Christmas” manages to be sweet, cheerful and funny without being saccharine. One of its most winning ingredients is the endearing performance of Johnson, who is the heart and soul of this yuletide tonic. “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly” may not be a traditional Christmas song, but it fits beautifully here as a bag lady’s plaintive yearning for a better life. Johnson sings it touchingly, as she does “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.” Coran-Kiefer and her carolers, led by Diana Celularo, glide smoothly through the tandem of “Deck the Halls,” The First Noel,” “Joy to the World” and “Merry Christmas.” Foy sings wistfully and expressively on “Home for Christmas,” thinking of those wedding plans. Another highlight is Kruczynski’s thoughtful rendition of “All Those Christmas Clichés.” Coyle and Welch are joined by Mike Casey, playing their father, Bill, on the nostalgically tinged “Home for the Holidays.” Perhaps the most clever utilization of music is the weaving together of “Let It Snow” and “Winter Wonderland,” sung with exacting felicity by the entire cast. Music director Kallin Johnson and pianist Jeff Kempskie keep everything humming along nicely. As someone in the audience said after the last note of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” faded away, “this will take the bah humbug out of you.” Well put. |
