REVIEW: 'Christmas Belles' at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre

Well, now that I have had more time to delve into the story of the Family Futrelle of Fayro, Texas - first made famous in Dearly Beloved - now given even more time in the spotlight in Christmas Belles, (onstage through New Year's Eve at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre) something has become abundantly clear to me. Hell, I may have had me an epiphany, y'all: Playwrights Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten haven't been spying on my family to create their Futrelle opus - the Futrelles are based on my best friend Aurora's people!

Of course, you'd have to know Aurora and her family saga to see the resemblance, but trust me, it's there. And there's so much more to be found in Christmas Belles that you, too, are likely to see amazing similarities to the folks in your family tree. That's the beauty of the work of Jones/Hope/Wooten: the stories told in their wonderfully comic plays are so universal that anyone can easily identify with the characters, despite their larger-than-life, overblown and wacky personalities.

Directed by Nate Eppler, Christmas Belles is staged in the round at Chaffin's Barn (as are all their shows), which works well for the play's hilariously overblown situations. Audiences have a birds-eye view of everything that's happening and that lends an even greater ring of authenticity to the hijinks unfolding onstage. By using every square foot of the Barn's playing area, Eppler involves the audience more intimately in the yuletide frivolities at the Tabernacle of the Lamb Church.

The action of Christmas Belles comes about six months after the curtain came down on Dearly Beloved. Honey Raye Futrelle (Martha Wilkinson) is still running Wynette's Dinettes, but in an effort to rehabilitate her questionable reputation she has taken on the duties of director of the Christmas program at the Tabernacle, ending the 27-year reign of Geneva Musgrave (Layne Sasser plays the owner of the BooKoo Bokay and the local Greyhound franchise). Frankie Futrelle Dubberly (Katherine McKenna) is still pregant with twins, looking as if she'll drop that litter any minute, while husband Dub (Mike Montgomery) has taken on a second job as Santa at the Super SmartMart to make ends meet. Little sister Twink (Tammie Whited), sporting a fetching orange jumpsuit, is in jail after torching the belongings of her ex-boyfriend of lord-knows-how-many-years after he jilted her for the much-hated Mary Jack McLemore (and, in doing so, burning down a neighboring trailer park - and you thought tornados were all you had to worry about if you lived in a trailer!).

Other favorite Favro residents are there for the fun, including Frankie's daughter Gina Jo (Jenny Norris-Light), still pursuing her high-octane career as a cow inseminator; interim preacher Justin Waverly (J. Dietz Osborne); Sheriff John Curtis Buntner (R. Alex Murray); and town snob Patsy Price (Liz Kalota). A couple of new characters are added to the mix, including Rhonda Lynn Lampley (Debbie Kraski), who's obviously a Honey Raye wannabe, and Raynerd Chisum (played on opening night by director Eppler, stepping in for an absent David Compton), who apparently is Fayro's version of Boo Radley.

What, I ask you, says "Christmas" more than that merry set-up? You just know that all manner of crazy hilarity is going to unfold before you as Honey Raye stages "Bethlehem-a-Palooza," the holiday pageant that'll set the standard for local cable access coverage for years to come.

Clearly, it's a winning premise and Eppler's top-flight cast give spirited performances that you can't help but enjoy, but the pacing on opening night seemed a little off and the show seemed a bit too long - kinda like the Christmas party guest who absolutely refuses to leave when all you want to do is load the dishwasher and put your feet up.

If only that Christmas guest were even half as funny as Martha Wilkinson and Layne Sasser, you'd never want them to leave. Wilkinson and Sasser, arguably two of the funniest people to ever set foot on a Nashville stage, are at the zenith of their comic powers in their sublimely hysterical performances and seeing the two square off over control of the Christmas pageant is a joy to behold. Santa Claus can only hope he delivers the goods on Christmas Eve with even a smidge of Wilkinson's exquisite comic timing. Sasser's braying "Listen up, people..." has the audience shaking with laughter as she makes her way to the stage to go toe-to-toe with Wilkinson and her ability to give as good as she gets guarantees the hearty applause she receives during her curtain call.

The best-written roles in Christmas Belles are for the women, but Mike Montgomery obviously knows his way around a comic line and he delivers Dub's with ease. Dietz Osborne plays the preacher who's moonlighting as Rudolph (you know, the one with the red nose) down at the Super SmartMart with the right blend of bewilderment, naivete and self-assurance.

Those performances notwithstanding, the costume design of Billy Ditty may well be the true star of this production. Ditty is, quite simply, amazing. He has a sharp eye for detail and his creations are outlandishly gorgeous and completely spot-on for his characters. For example, Honey Raye's skintight costumes are garishly tacky, but still pretty - just like Honey Raye herself. And his gown for Patsy Price, clearly inspired by Holiday Barbie circa 1998, is an eye-popping wonder to behold.

- Christmas Belles. By Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten. Directed by Nate Eppler. Produced by Janie and John Chaffin. At Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre, Nashvile. Through December 31. For tickets, call (615) 646-9977. Visit the company website at www.dinnertheatre.com for details about Chaffin's Barn's upcoming 2010 season.

photo of Martha Wilkinson, Tammie Whited and Katherine McKenna by John Chaffin

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