G. David Post has done it again! Chatham Community Players has produced the perfect holiday show in their latest offering “Christmas Cards–Letters to Santa.” They’re reprising some favorite vignettes from the version performed in 2013, and there are added features as well! One outstanding vignette is “A Different Kind of Claus,” featuring Howard Fischer as Santa and Andrew Palmieri as Marc, and there actual letters written to Santa and read by the more youthful cast members, including Connie Masterson, Andrew Palmieri, Molly Farrell, Aidan English, and the ever-youthful Fischer himself. This is pure delight from beginning to end!
Other favorite sketches include “The Haunting of Tannenbaum,” with a twist ending, featuring Chip Prestera, Post, Julie Anne Nolan, David Kapferer, Joëlle Bochner, and Ginny Crooks, in a delightful trio of holiday portraits. These actors play our heartstrings like violins and you’ll love every moment. “A String of Pearls,” featuring Maria Brodeur as the perspicacious Pearl, is joy for the entire family, and watch closely, as there are connective parts to other sketches. Hapless Kapferer falls under her spell and when Nolan comes along, there’s intrigue and O. Henry with the fun. “Stupid Bobby Harris” features English, Farrell, and Julia Hearne as a winsome trio, determined to keep some magic in Christmas. Fischer’s Santa has a modern wrinkle as well. The ensemble piece “The Three Christmas Witsches” is the perfect finish to an afternoon or evening of true spirit and you will want to get tickets as gifts for friends.
My touchstone for the evening, which I keep rolling in my mind like a fine holiday wine, is “8 Little Angels (A Christmas Story),” where Post is the Foley Artist to Bochner’s Narrator. Bochner uses every part of herself, mind, body, and spirit, in telling us the story of how good things ultimately happen to good people when love, community, and the true spirit of Christmas come together. She is every character and she and Post together are a pas de deux of the Ghost of Christmas Present. Joy and love come to us all in this pure and delightful tale.
Amy Sellars’ direction, with Roy Pancirov’s sets, Eric Hoglerson’s lighting, and Beverly Wand’s costume design crystalize the vision and Joe DeVico’s sound and projection design are characters in themselves. Well played, one and all, and thank you for this Holiday gift!
Oh by Gosh by Golly–you need tickets NOW for a whole lotta Christmas! Visit Chatham Community Players’ website at www.ChathamPlayers.org. Reserve NOW! This show only runs through December 16!