'Mrs. Cratchit' A Wild Christmas Ride at Mobtown

◊◊◊◊ out of five.  Mild adult language and humor.

Mobtown Players enters the holiday fray with just the type of off –center show you'd expect from them, Christopher Durang's very charming and very funny play Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge, which runs weekends through December 22.  As one might expect from the title, the play has something to do with Dickens' A Christmas Carol and a little too much "Christmas cheer."  It also has a lot to do with

-+, and even more to do with how bogged down we get with the holiday season and all of its conventions and expectations.  Most of all though, it is literally non-stop hilarity – tongue planted in cheek so deep it will require surgery for removal.

Under the frantic, yet also mellow –not a heavy hand in sight, direction of Mark Squirek, this little charmer will make your tummy ache from laughing, but your sweet tooth will be left wanting.  No schmaltzy syrupy Christmas hug fest here – no, just a reverent send up of all things holiday.  But this is no Grinch rip-off, either.  It is clear from the start that Durang is going for fun, self-awareness in the same vein as Into the Woods or Urinetown.  Those shows require more than a passing knowledge of fairy tales and musicals, respectively.  Binge requires an audience sick of/in love with A Christmas Carol and It's a Wonderful Life.  No worries, though, about it being heavy.  Squirek understands the fluff level of the piece, so he loads it up with gut-busting sight gags (Tiny Tim is a very adult, very tall man; the Christmas goose is a rubber chicken) and almost Keystone Kops level hyper-blocking.  The pace is brisk, the delivery sharp and the company first rate.

The cast of this madcap romp is quintessential community theatre, in the best sense of the phrase.  There is a charming group of youngsters (Jessica Walker, Andrew Lee, Gina D'Amato, Faith Hovatter) who will make you have to choke back the "aww"s they are so cute, but to their considerable credit – the youngest I understand, is 6 years old – they don't mug, overplay or lose character.  There is also a very game ensemble who do everything from scenery changes to choral back up during the show's musical numbers, and let's face it, what Dickens send up would be complete without a ton of townspeople?  These able bodied, the-show-would-miss-a-lot-without-them folks are: Caitlin Bouxsein, Donnie Lewis, and Walter Hovatter.

There are other sometimes-townspeople who also play supporting roles.  Sharon Carpenter is an absolute scream as a Dutch woman in a brief send up of The Gift of the Magi, and later as the "good" Mrs. Bob Cratchit, and a few smaller roles.  Gary Sugai practically begs to be watched as he fills the stage with his larger than life persona as George Bailey, and is a more subdued riot as Jacob Marley.  I love to watch actors with that "I love this" gleam in their eyes and he certainly has that!  Kristen Cooley is an absolute delight (and she clearly has the Durangian sense of humor deep inside her) as Little Nell (the Matchgirl).  She also plays the piano for the musical numbers, a hoot unto themselves, which are better left for your enjoyment without my telling anything about them.

William Walker's very serious I'm-in-A-Christmas-Carol-for-real delivery of his lines will make you roll in the aisles as he plays Bob Cratchit as if he were real.  Many of Durang's lines are all the more funny for that delivery.  Michael Butscher, the new Baltimore King of Deadpan, brought laughing tears to my eyes at least three times as I watched this rather tall man hobble about the set as the crippled Tiny Tim.  The best part of all about these supporting actors is that they know when their moments are, take them, and then let the others have their turn.  A group of scene chewing hogs would make this a boring disaster.

The play and its director really hit pay dirt with its three leading players.  The extremely versatile Jaye Nicole sings and cajoles her way through the tricky role of the Ghost – she is all three, here.  Part Whoopi Goldberg sass and savvy, part Tina Turner, Miss Nicole sashays her way around the set like Mae West running for president.  She is at once street-smart and all toothy charm – just right for a narrator for an affair like this. Among the skills Miss Nicole has on display are a fine singing voice, charisma to spare, and a mean way with a Taser (I'm not kidding).  John D'Amato, with his Baltimore Hon/London Dandy accent and drunken stupor deliver is healingly funny as Scrooge.  I may never hear "Bah Humbug" again without thinking of this guy.  What a grumpy old fart!  And what fun he is clearly having in the role – it is infectious, to be sure.

But it is as the titular Mrs. Bob Cratchit, that Holly Gibbs practically steals the show.  She understands Durang's humor like Diane Keaton understands Woody Allen or Divine understood John Waters.  She is pitch perfect as the chain smoking, unwilling mother of 20+ orphans, who would do pretty much anything to get rid of the life she has – not the least of which is throwing herself in the Thames after a few hot toddies at the local pub.  When local theatres get around to doing Les Miserables, Ms. Gibbs will likely be able to make a career going place to place as Madame Thenardier.  Here, she displays a multitude of acting talents, from melodrama to physical I Love Lucy-style comedy, and she is skilled at every one.

Caitlin Bouxsein's costume designs by necessity run from modern to 18^th century, and really show creativity, given a limited budget.  Similarly, Tony Colavito and Mark Huesman's unit set is all the funnier for being done "on the cheap" with one-dimensional Victorian village style. 

Yes, there are a couple of swear words, and some of the humor is a tinge adult, but all of it will go over the heads of most little ones.  This may very well be the closest thing to a true "family show" Mobtown may ever do.  But with a funny script, interesting direction and an all out funny company of actors, you can't get much more hilarity for your holiday dollars than Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge.

PHOTOS: Courtesy of Mobtown Players. TOP to BOTTOM: The Company; Scrooge and the Ghost (John D'Amato and Jayne Nicole); Mr. and Mrs. Bob Cratchit (William Walker and Holly Gibbs).

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