Holiday Pageants Part I: The Fruitcakes

There’s something ruefully contagious about the garishness of the Holiday season… contagious like a bad stomach flu. However, it also results in some twisted productions by the Los Angeles theatre community.

After the jump is a grab bag of the following egg nog infused selections:

• Rudolph the Red-Hosed Reindeer
• Bob’s Holiday Office Party
• Holiday Fever!
• Pageant of the Seasons, a  a 99¬¢ Only Modern Something!
• A Mulholland Christmas Carol
• A Ray Bradbury Christmas

Rudolph the Red-Hosed Reindeer is an original holiday musical with “gay elves, an evil Santa, an alcoholic Mrs. Claus and the Abominable Drag Beast.” (source: Sha In LA)

The Zephyr Theatre is hosting two Holiday traditions: Bob’s Holiday Office Party, now in its 11th year, and Holiday Fever!, in its third. LA Weekly described Bob’s, a comedic play, as “a drunken alternative to Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life.” Holiday Fever! is an old time (think 70s era Donny and Marie) variety show.

I’m sure there isn’t a producer out there who wouldn’t be motivated that there’s one show that has succeeded year after year using sets and costumes built entirely out of products from the 99¬¢ store. For 2006, its called Pageant of the 4 Seasons, a 99¬¢ Only Modern Something! An early cast/crew call the producers described it as “an ensemble dance piece. Operatic, BollyWood, Avante Garde, all in an acid trip.”

The only of this set that I can attest to, is the impressive A Mulholland Christmas Carol, that mashes up the Dicken’s tale with a history lesson about the St. Francis Dam disaster, all as a musical. It sounds wacky, but this is worthy of comparison to the most pro of any off-Broadway show, featuring a reenactment of the flood that destroyed Santa Paula.

A Ray Bradbury Christmas is an adaptation of The End of the Beginning/The Messiah, about an astronaut from Earth who lands on a planet where he finds himself the competition for their messiah. The Man of the Millennium himself (Bradbury) will also deliver a speech during each show. (source: Georgan’s MySpace)

(additional sourcing via LA Weekly)