Review: THE SANTA STORY at Downtown Cabaret Theatre

On Saturday, December 4th, at 12:00 P.M., I had the pleasure of seeing yet another Phill Hill written masterpiece, THE SANTA STORY, at Downtown Cabaret Theatre, in Bridgeport, CT. Phill Hill has incredible writing talent in putting new spins on traditional children's tales, while his creative genius particularly shines on shows like this that contain original storylines. Directed by Frank Root and choreographed by Cassie Carroll, this talented cast of five performs a comedy with a family friendly vibe for the younger audience members, while simultaneously keeping an adult audience entertained through one-liners, familiar cultural references, and clean double entendres.

While there are no moments in which the cast is physically entering or exiting through the audience, the fourth wall is frequently broken, verbally, from stage, with this enthusiastic audience containing many young children who sounded like they were loving every moment, and were happy to share their answers to the questions they were being asked. At one point, specific children within the audience are named, as the "nice" list is being created. All three children who were named from this particular audience were put on the "nice," list, but I can not guarantee that such will be the case for future audiences.

The show contains numerous musical numbers, in which the cast members sing, with previously recorded instrumental accompaniment. Songs made famous by Burl Ives, Joan Jett, Stevie Wonder, David Bowie, Van Halen, and George Thorogood are among the numbers selected, some with changed lyrics, to better fit the show.

Extremely talented Downtown Cabaret regular Andrea Pane stars in the leading role of Chris Kringle. While Andrea Pane regularly shines as the quirky, comedic, over-the-top character, this role showcases his superb acting in a more of a straight man role as the central protagonist. The story is a fictionalized account of younger Chris Kringle's journey from being a local kindhearted generous man towards his legendary status as a beloved global Christmastime celebrity known as Santa Claus. Throughout the show, Andrea Pane draws the audience in with his stellar acting and stage presence.

Corinne Marshall, who has excelled in multiple different roles in past productions at Downtown Cabaret continues to dazzle audiences in this new role of Jackie Frost. Her acting versatility enables her to command the stage whether she is playing the central protagonist, or in this case, as the central antagonist. Jackie Frost is a fascinating villain who wants to rule winter and make others share her gloom and misery during the wintertime. She feels threatened by Chris Kringle's generosity in making toys for children and giving them away free of charge. She sees this as a huge threat to her misery agenda and plans to stop him. Her strategy, however, is not to outwardly, overtly, and unapologetically oppose him, but to instead pretend to be his friend, and deceive him into making decisions that sound good on the surface, but that she calculates will lead to his downfall. A fascinating uniqueness to her intended deceptions, however, is that the actions she is suggesting, in and of themselves, tend to be acts of kindness with the potential to yield positive results, if he can successfully pull them off. She is not deceiving or manipulating him into making choices that are outright evil or that otherwise violate his conscience, just choices that she believes he will fail to succeed at.

Ashley DePascale gives yet another of her first-rate performances in the highly entertaining role of Shiver. Ashley DePascale is incredibly skilled at maximizing the quality of every character she portrays. Even when she plays a villain, she brings such pizzazz to her characters, that they are nevertheless highly charismatic, usually coming across as someone the audience would like to know in real life. Her performance as Shiver is an example of how she can take a villainous character, one who is essentially Jackie Frost's toadie, and still command the audience's attention whenever she is on stage. Shiver initially comes across as shy, then as shy a few bricks, and then very jovial. Shiver also serves somewhat as a voice for the children in the audience, and even the adults, in that she questions Jackie Frost as to how Jackie's seemingly positive suggestions towards Chris Kringle are supposed to sabotage him, to which Jackie gives reasonable answers, clarifying the intended villainy, to the audience.

The stage chemistry between Corinne Marshall and Ashley DePascale is very strong, reflecting two actresses who know how to play off each other very convincingly. The highlight musical number is Corinne Marshall singing Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart," along with Ashley DePascale, harmonizing with backing vocals. This number was so well performed that I totally believe that a cast sound recording of THE SANTA STORY would be commercially marketable. I'd buy it! Corinne Marshall's powerful voice is perfectly complemented by Ashley DePascale's angelic backing vocals. If they could acquire some live instrumentalists, I believe the two of them could successfully tour together, on the strength of that single. They are an acting and musical paring who I definitely hope to see together again, in future Downtown Cabaret shows.

Max Helfand shows that he can bring a top notch performance to a children's show as well, in the role of Tinsel, a singing elf who becomes a crucial and influential helper to Chris Kringle. Max Helfand is the perfect actor to portray this very likeable protagonist.

The Downtown Cabaret Theatre has found yet another rising star in newcomer Carly Jurman who performs Mrs. Margaret Kringle, Chris Kringle's wife. Even though Margaret sometimes rebukes her husband, even using his middle name, Cornelius, she ultimately comes across as an encouraging and supportive wife who has more confidence in her husband's abilities than even he has. Carly Jurman is excellent at rallying the children in the audience to help support Chris Kringle.

It seemed unanimous among the enthusiastic children in the audience that they want Christmas to happen every year. I agree with them!

Will Jackie Frost succeed in sabotaging Chris Kringle? Will she suggest he does something beyond what he could realistically accomplish? Will what Jackie intended for bad turn out for the good of everyone, including Jackie and Shiver? Will the audience contain yet another birthday child named Sheila? Come to the show and find out!

I highly recommend THE SANTA STORY which is scheduled to continue to run at Downtown Cabaret Theatre, in Bridgeport, CT, through December 30, 2021. For times and tickets, please go to https://dtcab.com/show/the-santa-story/.

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