BWW Reviews: THE SANTALAND DIARIES at Road Less Traveled Theatre

A Sassy Elf Story in SANTALAND

A disgruntled elf at Christmas time? Well, I'm sure everyone remembers Hermey, the wanna be dentist elf featured in Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, who was unsatisfied with his elfin duties. But another elf story has become a holiday tradition on NPR and in regional theatres across the U.S. Humorist David Sedaris' THE SANTALAND DIARIES is playing at Road Less Traveled Theatre and making quite an impression on holiday theatre goers.

Through a series of vignettes, Sedaris' autobiographical story tells of a 30 something everyday man out of work and seemingly unqualified for every job he applies for. Then the job of all jobs becomes available--- an elf in Santa's workshop at Macy's in New York City. This one man, one act play is based on a series of readings Sedaris wrote for NPR, and in 1996 was adpated for the NY stage by director Joe Mantello. This incarnation is a big saltier than the radio version and leads the audience through the application process, training, and day to day duties of a working elf until the final work day-- Christmas Eve.

Kevin Kennedy stars as the elf Crumpet ( a name of his own choosing). Kennedy brings charm, acerbic wit, and a lot of naughtiness to the role of a man forced to dress up in a ridiculous costume daily for a month. His character's true aspiration is just to land a role on "One Life To Live," but instead he must settle for this role, essentially acting like a cartoon caricature. Crumpet's daily assignment changes from greeter, to picture taker, Santa's assistant , and cashier-- all the while having to behave like an empty headed buffoon to please both child and parent alike. An hour long monlogue can be taxing to any actor, especially when the vignettes don't always occur in any specific chronological order. Kennedy copes well with the large task at hand, which is basically memorizing someone's diary. With only minor slips, he gathered almost as many laughs as could be had from this script, that although humorous, doesn't truly bring many laugh out loud, roll in the aisle guffaws. The bulk of the comedy gets going as the job sets into horrible routine, having to deal with crazed parents, crying babies, vomiting children, other psychologically unstable elves, and year round Macy's employees. We also learn that Crumpet is gay, and has an attraction for a young male elf named Snow Ball, who is a flirting tease with all the other employees, including some of the Santas. Meanwhile some Santas are African American, which irritates some affluent white mothers, and another Santa is delusional in believing he truly is THE Santa Claus, which irritates Crumpet.

When he is almost at his wit's end, Crumpet imagines Santaland now as SATANLAND, with Santa now behaving like an evil Satan, spitting fire. Kennedy was at his finest in relaying various stories of encounters between the many different Santas, the children and their parents. Imagine every nasty combination of childhood tantrums you've witnessed with over wrought parents in any department store, and magnify that under the watchful lens of an irritated elf-- that makes for some funny theatre--- and most of us have the Christmas photos with Santa to prove it!

Director Doug Weyand helps Kennedy through his paces and effectively uses many playing areas of the simplistic, colorful set by Lou Iannone. Weyand ensures that the story builds and peaks by the final day at the job. Kennedy's facial expressions and appropriately outrageous costume (by Maura Simmonds-Price) won him over with the packed audience, especially when he was at his naughtiest. But the few touching encounters with genuinely caring Santas and good hearted children brought some true Christmas spirit to this cynical look at the Christmas season.

The Santaland Diaries, originally a two-week limited engagement, opened Friday, December 4th and
runs through Sunday, December 13th, has been extended with two additional performances,
Friday December 18th and Saturday December 19th at the Road Less Traveled Theater (500 Pearl
Street).
Regular performance times are Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 7:30PM and Sunday at 2:00PM.
Tickets are $35 general admission. Student Thursday discounted tickets will not be offered during
the holiday production. Tickets can be ordered online at www.roadlesstraveledproductions.org, by
calling the RLTP Box Office at (716) 629-3069, or by visiting the Box Office during the 30 minutes prior
to any performance. Reservations are suggested.

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