Review: THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS Brightens Allenberry Season

"There's No Place Like Home For The Holidays" is certainly a much-loved Christmas piece, a song rather than a carol. First recorded in 1954 by Perry Como, it enshrined the combination of Pennsylvania and pumpkin pie in the minds of millions. But the first part of that song title, "there's no place like home," taken by itself, evokes a completely different mind set - not of Christmas, but of THE WIZARD OF OZ.

Jackie Heinze, who writes the annual Allenberry Playhouse Christmas show, didn't miss that fact. This year's production, directed by artistic director Ryan Gibbs, THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS, takes THE WIZARD OF OZ head-on, with a short tale of Ruby, played by Kelly Hubbell, who runs out of her rural Pennsylvania home, angry, during a family Christmas party, and finds herself transported to the magical land of Winter Wonderland.

While she doesn't land on any newly-deceased witches, she does encounter Queen Wintergreen (Sydney Leigh Allen) and her mean sister Frigidia (Erin Whitcomb), who in child-friendly fashion is far more Elsa from FROZEN than Wicked Witch of the West, but is just mean enough to set up conflict. The fight between the two is less critical, however, than Queen Wintergreen's urging of Ruby to get home by way of a flight back from Santa, which requires a journey to Santa's Village. (Complicating the family dynamic between Wintergreen and Frigidia is that Santa, "Chris" to them, is their brother, whom Frigidia thinks stole her idea about toys and sleighs.)

How to get to Santa's Village? That sets Ruby to needing a little help, which arrives with a droopy snowman, a reindeer afraid of flying, and an angry elf, who eliminate the need for tin men or scarecrows. They're aided by, rather than Munchkins, a troupe of adorable young Snow Fairies who sing and dance everyone to safety when needed. Of the talented troupe of children who play Snow Fairies, look especially for Chase Jennings Gray, whose talent and utter "aw" factor (the one that makes grandmas pinch cheeks and other adults sigh at the cuteness) really stand out. Give him a few years, and if he's not clutching a Red Ryder BB Gun on stage in A CHRISTMAS STORY, there is no justice in casting.

Craig Treubert, currently a regular at Allenberry, is a delight as both Ruby's father Sam, a loving ne'er-do-well who tries hard, and is the foil to Whitcomb's too-successful, ungenerous Aunt Fran (Frigidia's "real-life" counterpart in Ruby's real world). Aunt Fran's the sort who gives little kids savings bonds for Christmas. Where's that Red Ryder carbine when you need one? But just as Frigidia isn't as evil as the Wicked Witch, Aunt Fran's able to soften up a bit by the end of the holiday and make peace with Sam.

The sets are delightful, and the costuming is as rural Central Pennsylvania as it gets, with the right plaid flannel shirts, corduroy pants, and all the rest of it - you can feel the sale prices at Tractor Supply that sent the men in the family out shopping.

As always at Allenberry, the story exists for the cast to sing familiar Christmas songs and carols that everyone in the audience, from grandma to the toddlers, know and love. A few, like "Fly, Fly Cocoa," to encourage reindeer Cocoa (Kayli Jameson) are adaptations, but most are the usual things that you love to sing along to - and the cast and playhouse won't mind if you do. It's one act without intermission, again as always, just the right length for younger children to enjoy and not to need a bathroom break, while long enough for love, family, and the spirit of the holidays to shine before the end.

At Allenberry through December 20, and good old-fashioned fun (especially if you help yourself to hot cocoa and cookies afterwards, courtesy of Allenberry), it's happy family fun that's actually adult-friendly, just the thing for kids, but with enough knowing nods to THE WIZARD OF OZ for adults to be able to play with it as they watch. Tickets and information available at Allenberry.com; check the Facebook page for updates and specials.

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