Dear, dear, fellow theatre-goers:
I miss holiday shows a downright ridiculous amount.
The sparkling snowflakes swirling around the Sugar Plum Fairy, the jolt of delicious fear before Jacob Marley appears, the sound design that makes your eyes weepy and your heart grateful?
Yep. I miss those holiday shows.
I miss holiday shows that I haven’t even seen yet, too.
But if anyone knows how to turn lemons into a glitzy limoncello cocktail wearing a Santa hat, it’s the Chicago theatre scene. Here are three of our picks where theaters have not only accepted the challenge- but redefined the medium.
Manual Cinema’s A Christmas Carol
We’ve been fans of brilliant Manual Cinema since 2017’s The Magic City, and with good reason. The way the talented artists in this Chicago-based interdisciplinary collective manipulate light and shadow is a thing of absolute wonder, and they consistently wow audiences ranging in age from 3 to 103. Written by Artistic Directors Drew Dir, Sarah Fornace, Ben Kauffman, Julia Miller, and Kyle Vegter, this world-premiere livestream retelling of A Christmas Carol begins as an obligatory Zoom call with family. It’s hosted by Aunt Trudy (the exceptional N. LaQuis Harkins) who, while definitely not a Scrooge, has lost more than a little holiday spirit. Through the reimagining of the beloved Dickens tale, the gifts she gives as well as gets start to pile higher than the tree.
Each show is performed live (with safe measures in place for the artists) and streamed via Marquee TV. The sheer number of miniatures, puppets, and silhouettes will boggle the mind- and the live, original score will warm the heart.
Look for: Characters crafted from paper, wire, and light that your whole family will adore, especially the sweetly enthusiastic Ghost of Christmas Present as well as the tween-ish Ghost of Christmas Past’s well-placed admonition of “boomer.”
How to tune in:
Runs through December 20th, 2020
Tickets onsale at manualcinema.com (regular tickets range from $15-$50 and include a post-show Puppet Time live chat with the Manual City artists)
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Lookingglass Theater’s The Steadfast Tin Soldier
(photo credit: Liz Lauren)
There are probably only a handful of words uttered during Mary Zimmerman’s retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s short tale, so why then, at the finale, are you weeping like a small child? (Just me? Probably not, no.)
A mere five characters create the entire world of this stunning panto. There’s the opening of the stage-wide advent calendar windows, shifting scale perspectives into and out of a child’s dollhouse, and even the immersion of a paper boat into a gush of water (don’t ask). The through-line is the love story of the titular Tin Soldier (Alex Stein) and the Ballerina (Kasey Foster), and if their soulful doe eyes don’t slay you, the moral of the story surely will. Haunting, gorgeous, and timely, this is one I’m already looking forward to seeing next holiday season.
Look for: In a show packed with moments of “oh my gosh, that is so clever,” the baby is portrayed by multiple puppeteers, and his “hands” are the absolute coolest. And squint or you’ll miss it- can you tell what’s written on the Tin Soldier’s leg?
How to tune in:
Runs through December 27th, 2020
Tickets onsale at www.lookingglasstheatre.org ($25 for livestream tickets, including 48-hour access)
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The Goodman Theatre’s A Christmas Carol
(Photo credit: Frank Ishman)
43 years in, it’s hard to top the Goodman Theatre’s stellar A Christmas Carol– even the Goodman knows that. So they took a different route and offered up the audio broadcast of their show as a complimentary holiday gift for their many, many fans. And what a gift it is!
Adapted for audio by Neena Arndt, Jessica Thebus and Richard Woodbury, and directed by Jessica Thebus, they’ve stayed true to the beloved script- with necessary narrations included here and there- but really, by this point I could hear Larry Yando narrate the back of a cereal box and I’d be filled with the Christmas spirit.
Look/listen for: The scene with Dee Dee Batteast’s Niece Frida (always a lovely twist on the traditional Nephew Fred role) welcoming the errant Uncle Scrooge at the very end of the show is always a throat-punch of emotions…this year even more so. And hey, the casting of Cindy Gold and Penelope Walker as Mrs. and Mrs. Fezziwig marks a nice gender shift while retaining every ounce of the couple’s ebullient love for the season above all else.
How to tune in:
Runs through December 31st, 2020
(Streams for free at carol.goodmantheatre.org/the-audio-play)
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2020? Eh, it’s just a year. But the human spirit- and the ability to share stories in the midst of some tough, tough times- that stuff’s eternal. (And isn’t that worth raising a toast?)
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