Gold Dust Orphans Go Green with Return of Mrs. Grinchley

Mrs. Grinchley’s Christmas Carol

Written by Ryan Landry, Costumes by Scott Martino

Presented by The Gold Dust Orphans Theatrical Company, Performances through December 18, Sat @ 5 pm & 8 pm, Sun @ 5 pm at Theater Machine, Ramrod Center for the Performing Arts, 1254 Boylston Street, Boston, MA. For tickets and information call 617-265-6222 or http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/210431

Ryan Landry is tireless. While continuing to play Dr. Frank N. Furter in The Rocky Horror Show on Friday nights at Oberon in Cambridge, he is spending the next two weekends with the Gold Dust Orphans on his home stage at Machine. Donning an oversized hooked nose, a kelly green fright wig, and gay apparel, Landry gets into the verdigris-like skin of the malevolent Hermione P. Grinchley, reprising his role from last year’s hit starring the character spawned from the very first Orphans production in 1995, How Mrs. Grinchley Swiped Christmas.

Mrs. Grinchley’s Christmas Carol is structured like Charles Dickens’ beloved story A Christmas Carol with the miserly Grinchley spewing “Humbug!” from her curled lips and doing her best to spread gloom during the festive holiday season. She is visited by the ghost of her late husband Jacob Grinchley (a fearsome green puppet monster) who warns her to expect visits from three more spirits during the night. The ghosts of Hermione’s past, present, and future take her on a wild ride and confront her with many eye-opening sights in order to get her to change her evil ways.

Landry spins the usual Dickens characters into some unusual personalities. For instance, as if having a nasty boss and being poor isn’t enough, Max Cratchit (Billy Hough) has to deal with a drunken wife and a sexually deviant daughter. Teeny Tiny Tim is a crippled, but very well-behaved, little dog. Scrooge apprenticed to an employer named Fezziwig, but Grinchley’s first job was at Ye Olde Frizziwig’s Stripper Bar and Grill where her best friend Dick McNuggett dresses in the skimpiest kilt you’ll ever see. In addition to the traditional literary characters, no Gold Dust Orphans show is complete without a featured role for Liza Minnelli (Matty “Liza Lott” Laurenza). Wearing a red sequined pantsuit, she shows up at Grinchley’s Department Store to invite her for Christmas dinner, but, despite Liza’s best efforts to explain the meaning of the holiday in song, Hermione’s having none of it.

Mrs. Grinchley’s Christmas Carol pays homage to classic songs of the season, changing the lyrics to fit these characters and this adaptation of the story. The ensemble opens with a big tap number to the tune of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” warning of the return of Mrs. G., and they do a creepy zombie song and dance á la “Thriller” as denizens of the cemetery where the missus sees her potential future. I’d like to say I enjoyed every word, but unfortunately I couldn’t hear 90% of the lyrics over the excessive volume of the music. It’s too bad, because I’m sure they’re clever, in keeping with Landry’s dialogue. Sound cues for gunshots and other effects were spot on, as were lighting and props. Costumes by Scott Martino aka Penny Champayne (who takes the stage as Mrs. Cratchit) are terrific, especially those of the nocturnal visitors (Olive Another aka Ryan McGuire, and Andre “Afrodite” Shoals), and the sets are appropriately cartoonish, in a nod to Dr. Seuss.

In addition to the songs and dances, there are laughs and groans aplenty, and, in typical Orphans fashion, more than a little raunchiness. If you don’t like a gag, wait a minute; there’ll be another one coming along to tickle your fancy. The show moves along quickly (it is well under two hours, including intermission) and, just as in the Dickens version, the spirits get it all done in one night. However, make no mistake – this is neither Alastair Sim nor Mr. Magoo, and you shouldn’t bring your kids, despite the mash-up with Seuss and the 5 o’clock show times. Establish a new holiday tradition, but this one’s for the grownups.  

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