BWW Reviews: Circuit Playhouse Rubs Noses With the SANDERS

I'll admit it - my curmudgeonly inclinations generally find me more than willing to step aside during the Holiday Season and allow others to occupy my seat in the audience. One reviewer of holiday Christmas specials and movies recently noted that for every A CHRISTMAS STORY or IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, there are dozens of dreadful productions that can make a discerning critic fall to his knees and make a heartfelt Christmas wish for the 26th of December. The originators of such works probably know too well that critics tend to be the sour dills at the plum pudding feast, and it has to be a challenge to appeal to the innocents in the audience and at the same time entertain the more Sondheim-oriented adults.

Thankfully, Circuit Playhouse's current production of SANDERS FAMILY CHRISTMAS (written by Connie Ray and conceived by Alan Bailey, with musical arrangements by John Foley and Gary Fagin), while not quite ascending to the top of the Christmas tree, avoids the fate of crashing down like an ill-hung ornament. I have my misgivings about some of the rather forced humor and the slightness of plot and characterization, but the rich garment of talent that hangs upon this flimsy plastic hanger of a piece more than offsets that. It's the source material rather than the performance of it that has "community theatre staple" stamped all over it.

The plot is rather simple (and potentially very touching): The Sanders Family, with its son Dennis (an engaging McCheyne Post) about to depart to war just days after Pearl Harbor, has been invited by Pastor Mervyn Oglethorpe (cheerfully played by the eager-to-please Cameron Reeves, who impressed in the recent ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS) to perform in the local church on Christmas Eve. The family members include father "Burl" (the versatile Chris Cotton), Bible-quoting mother "Vera" (whose "hell fire and brimstone" admonitions to the little ones in the audience are wickedly funny), Gene Autry-acquainted "Uncle Stanley" (anyone who saw Philip Andrew Himebook's magnificent "Jean Valjean" will be in for a bit of a shock here, though that deep voice gets a good harmonic workout with those of his fellow performers), and the children - spinsterish "June" (Madeline Glenn Thomas, who nails the physical comedy as the one non-singing Sanders who "signs" for anyone in the congregation who might be deaf; she's rather like Sara Haden's "Aunt Millie" in the old MGM "Andy Hardy" films) and the twins "Dennis" and "Denise" (a bobby-soxed Meredith Koch, who not only sings but flails away on one instrument after the other).

Each of these players is allowed his or her "big monologue" - sometimes moving (as spoken by Post and, at least in the first part of her response to a marriage proposal, Ms. Thomas); sometimes, giggle-inducing (Ms. Koch's enthusiastic announcement that she plans to support the troops by joining the USO). This is where I find the source material lacking. Despite the astute direction of Dave Landis and the "play it for all it's worth" enthusiasm of the cast, the humor struck me as not just "corn," but "pureed corn" - as lame as the worst of PETTICOAT JUNCTION or THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW once it left black and white and ushered in color and "Gomer Pyle." However, if you realize "Hey, it's only a Christmas play," it goes down like smooth eggnog. As far as the drama is concerned, despite the earnestness and conviction of those who execute it, their characters have been so scantily sketched in the source material that you have to force yourself to respond to the emotion that the moment calls for. (Again, though, who is looking for the influence of Eugene O'Neill in a generally light Christmas musical?)

Before you think I'm stomping with cleats on all the prettily wrapped packages beneath the tree, let me assure you that what is right with this production more than counterbalances what is inherently weak about it. As soon as I saw Scenic Designer Philip Hughen's set - garlands, pews, poinsettias, wood-burning stove, high beams overhead, stars sparkling in the winter night outside - I started thinking about nostalgia-tinged Christmas cards I would like to send; and with all of those guitars, banjo, bass, washboard, accordion, and kazoo scattered about the stage, I knew that the musical credentials and versatility of this ensemble wouldn't disappoint - and I was right. Many in the cast played more than one instrument, and either individually or together, they set my aged foot to tapping and my own pitifully off-key voice to join in the singing of hymns and carols.

SANDERS FAMILY CHRISTMAS has so much potential that I wish Ms. Ray would work on it a bit more. What's there, however, is certainly crowd-pleasing (the well-attended Sunday matinee showed appreciation with a standing ovation). It's a rather sweet piece that falls in that genre that consists of works like QUILTERS (a piece I greatly admire) and PUMP BOYS AND DINETTES. There are plenty of songs (many of them familiar Christmas carols and hymns), and the "bluegrass" sound is, admittedly, one that I particularly like. Through December 28

To post a comment, you must register and login.