Directed by Byron Holder
Choreographed by Kimberly Anne Cooper
Lighting Design by Chris Wyatt
Set Design by Richard Brown
Sound Design by Abel Casillas and Beau McDermott

CAST:
Charly Dannis
Amanda Trousdale
Sheresa Tuggle
Malcolm Beaty
Brandon Jackson

*REVIEWED 11-27-09 PERFORMANCE

REVIEWED BY Mandy Rausch
ASSOCIATE THEATER CRITIC for John Garcia's THE COLUMN

__________________A CHRISTMAS SURVIVAL GUIDE__________________

Attention holiday shoppers: there are less than 30 shopping days left until
Christmas Day. Bring on the crowded shopping malls, overpriced merchandise, the
search for the perfect outfit for dateless nights at corporate holiday parties
and, of course, the fear at the back of everyone's mind: "Who am I going to kiss
at midnight on New Year's Eve?"

The holidays are a time of giving and togetherness, yes, but they are also a
time of stress, elbows-out crowds, 3am door-buster sales, and being trapped in
rooms for hours at a time with family members. In the director's notes inside
the program, Byron Holder says, "...I hope that you will find, if not the true
meaning of Christmas, then at least at truer version."

Runway Theatre in Grapevine is offering up A CHRISTMAS SURVIVAL GUIDE as an
opportunity for its audience members to sit back, relax, listen to some classic
(and some new and unfamiliar) holiday tunes, and perhaps walk away refreshed and
ready to face the holiday season with a new outlook.

Richard Brown's set design upon entering the theatre appeared at first to be a
basic set with standard Christmas decor. Upon further inspection however, I
noticed more and more details that showed me what the set in fact was meant to
look like: the underside of a Christmas tree, complete with oversized gifts,
ornaments and lights hanging from the theatre's light grid, and the base of the
tree painted behind the bandstand. I let out an audible "ha!" when I noticed
the intention of the set designer. Kudos to Richard Brown for a very clever
design!

There is even seating available on the stage of this design. Fair warning,
however: should you decide to get a close up of the action and sit onstage,
you'd better have a tap solo prepared!

This is a very simple show, technically. The light plot was simple, but
festive. Lighting designer Chris Wyatt used bright reds and greens and, at one
point, a gobo of white snowflakes was used, and it was a pleasant and charming
surprise! It also appeared that, rather than be followed by spotlights, the
actors moved to areas of the stage upon which a white light was focused. The
effect was a softer light upon the actors' faces, rather than the harshness of a
bright white follow spot washing them out. Only occasionally did I wonder why
there was not a light on a soloist's face, but that can probably be chalked up
to opening night technical issues still being worked out.

There were also some sound issues that appeared to still need some tweaking.
Most notably, a very loud, hot microphone on one actor in particular caused
feedback whenever his pitch reached a certain level. On the whole, though, the
sound design by Abel Casillas and Beau McDermott was clever, well-timed, and
seamless.

Sound effects were played at exactly the right moments and at a perfect,
unobtrusive volume, and the voiceovers (provided by Morgana Shaw and Beau
McDermott) were timed perfectly with the actors' lines.

As the voiceover actors, Morgana Shaw and Beau McDermott provided excellent
comic timing with the use of varying accents. As the author of "The Christmas
Survival Guide," however, I was unsure of why Beau McDermott used a French
accent. It was funny, but it also made some lines difficult to understand. It
would have been just as effective without the accent.

The staging by Byron Holder (who incidentally seemed to serve as keyboard
player, sometimes vocalist, and musical director, though unbilled for all three)
was very nicely done. The actors moved into and out of scenes easily and
quickly, and brought any needed props onstage with them. This eliminated any
uncomfortable set changes or long periods of inaction. The costume design (also
uncredited) seemed to be a collaborative effort from the cast, possibly even
pulling from their own closets. The women were dressed in tasteful and
attractive, solid-colored cocktail dresses and the men wore black slacks and a
solid-colored dress shirt. Any additional costume pieces were brought on by the
actors, used during the songs, and were taken off with them.

The small cast of five did a commendable job with the material. Brandon Jackson
was energetic and handsome, and had some of the toughest songs to sing (and with
a simply uncooperative wireless microphone at that).

Amanda Trousdale, obviously the most classically trained singer of the group,
set the tone of the show nicely with her solo "Christmas Cliches." I would have
preferred to see a little more emotion and a bit less emoting—a habit of more
than a few singers trained primarily in opera.

Malcolm Beaty was the comic standout of the evening, scoring especially big
laughs with "Santa Fantasy," but he showed off his killer vocal chops in Act 2
with "O Holy Night," a personal favorite of mine.

Sheresa Tuggle scored some of the best numbers in the show with "I'd Like to
Hitch a Ride with Santa Clause" and the side-splitting
"Surabaya Santa," and her sultry, belter voice was right on the money. She
struggled a little with her upper register, but only a critic would have really
noticed, since she had the audience wrapped around her little finger after
"Surabaya Santa!"

Local actresses had better watch out for high school junior Charly Dannis; she
may just be the Next Big Thing to hit the D/FW theatre scene. She had excellent
control over her voice, and displayed an extremely healthy balance between a
strong belt and a soaring head voice—very uncharacteristic in most girls her
age. With regards to her age, I would have preferred to have been in ignorant
bliss of it. She had more than enough vocal chops and acting skills to handle
each song and scene she was given, but a few of her scenes and songs were just a
little inappropriate and/or unbelievable for someone so young. (Speaking of
inappropriate, I would caution parents to be aware of a few adult-themed moments
in the show such as, in reference to "dating" Santa, a line that read, quite
saucily, something like "I love a bearded man with a whip." Just a heads up!)

All five singers handled the harmonies and group numbers flawlessly for the most
part. It would have been a bit more effective to have had a little less belting
once the mood changed with the "Sacred Trio," and had the finale, "The Greatest
Gift," not turned into a bit of an American Idol style diva-off, but overall it
was refreshing to hear strong, talented singers across the board in a show with
very little dialogue.

In conclusion, it's hard not to enjoy a show that pokes fun at all the Christmas
cliches that we deal with each year (and that start earlier and earlier every
year as well), but that also takes the time to remind the audience what
Christmas is all about. Take time out of your busy holiday schedule for an
enjoyable evening at Runway Theatre, follow the advice of director Byron Holder,
and find (or rediscover) what Christmas means to you.

REVIEWED by Mandy Rausch
ASSOCIATE THEATRE CRITIC for John Garcia's THE COLUMN

________________________________________________________________

A CHRISTMAS SURVIVAL GUIDE
Grapevine's Runway Theatre
Through December 20, 2009

Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00pm, Sunday matinee performances at 3:00pm at Runway
Theatre; 215 North Dooley Street, Grapevine, TX.

Tixs may be purchased at http://www.runwaytheatre.com/BuyTickets.php