THE BASICS: THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF SANTA CLAUS, a musical with book and lyrics by Bert Bernardi and music by Justin Rugg based on a children’s “read aloud” book by “Oz” creator L. Frank Baum, presented by O’Connell & Company, runs through December 19 with two more shows, Saturday at 8:00 and Sunday at 2:00 on the Ken-Ton Elmwood Commons Mainstage, 3200 Elmwood Avenue, Tonawanda, NY 14217 (oconnellandcompany.com) (716-848-0800) Vaccinations and masks required. Raffles, concessions, fresh popcorn! Runtime: 90 minutes with one intermission
THUMBNAIL SKETCH: As the promotion says, this is about Santa Claus, “How the Boy became a Man. How the Man became a Legend.” In the forest of Burzee, the wood nymph Necile (Kelleigh Murray) discovers an abandoned infant and with permission of “the immortals” Queen of the forest Zurline (Anne DeFazio) and the Great Woodsman Ak (Michael J. Galante) she raises the boy until it’s time for him to go forth with his sidekick Calon, the Elf (Michael Starzynski), to learn about the world both good and bad. As Claus (Nick Lama) he sees poverty and illness and even though potentially thwarted by the evil Awgwa Sisters (Sara Jo Kukulka and Sára Kovácsi Rizzo) he succeeds in bringing happiness to children through the annual Christmas Eve ritual of dropping down chimneys to deliver toys.
THE PLAYERS, THE PLAY, AND THE PRODUCTION: The plot of this musical follows several standard tropes, the first being Joseph Campbell’s “Hero’s Journey,” taken reluctantly, always with a sidekick, and facing adversity, ultimately bringing a gift to mankind. (Think Lord of the Rings). But it is also what is known as an “Etiological myth” meaning an explanation for the way things are (think Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories). When dealing with large cosmological issues they are sometimes called “Origin Myths” (for example The Book of Genesis). In modern popular culture they are known as “Origin Stories.” Think of Marvel Comics’ Peter Parker bitten by a radioactive spider to become “Spider Man” and DC Comics’ Bruce Wayne, swearing vengeance after criminals murder his parents to become “Batman.”
So you get the idea. Baum is taking what we (and most people in 1902) would already have associated with Christmas through Scandinavian, German, and Victorian English culture, and also a famous poem published about eighty years earlier and hammering out an “Origin Story.”
That poem A Visit from St. Nicholas, more commonly known as “’Twas the Night Before Christmas” from its first line, was first published in 1823 and later attributed to Clement C. Moore. The salient lines in the poem that Baum wanted to explain would seem to be the following:
‘Twas the night before Christmas
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there…
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer…
With the sleigh full of Toys, and St. Nicholas too…
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound….
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf…
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;
But what a mish-mosh this musical becomes. It had the feel of a middle school production. To be sure, the principals (Kelleigh Murray, Anne DeFazio, Michael J. Galante, Michael Starzynski, Nick Lama, Sara Jo Kukulka, and Sára Kovácsi Rizzo) have good voices, especially Murray, and especially in her rendition of “Child of the Forest – Part 3.” The woodland women’s costumes designed by Kukulka were stunning on a budget. And the evil, crow headed Awgwa sisters’ scene and song “Like the Awgwa Do” which closes Act I is pretty funny as are many moments with Michael Starzynski, eminently bankable and reliable in comic roles. Nick Lama has a fine baritone that (casting directors please note) should be used much more. So all over the stage there were these isolated moments that were enjoyable, but the whole was much, much less than the sum of its many parts.
I appreciate what Mary Kate O’Connell, founder of the company, is doing in getting actors off of Zoom and onto a stage. And with the recent large cast of A CHORUS LINE and now this, she’s certainly doing her part to revive theater in Western New York. But in the end, there were just too many moving parts. And a huge problem for me is the inclusion of eight children. I am not amused by children on stage, whether in MATILDA or FINDING NEVERLAND or even ANNIE. So, factor that into my One Buffalo rating anyway you want.
*HERD OF BUFFALO (Notes on the Rating System)
ONE BUFFALO: This means trouble. A dreadful play, a highly flawed production, or both. Unless there is some really compelling reason for you to attend (i.e. you are the parent of someone who is in it), give this show a wide berth.
TWO BUFFALOS: Passable, but no great shakes. Either the production is pretty far off base, or the play itself is problematic. Unless you are the sort of person who’s happy just going to the theater, you might look around for something else.
THREE BUFFALOS: I still have my issues, but this is a pretty darn good night at the theater. If you don’t go in with huge expectations, you will probably be pleased.
FOUR BUFFALOS: Both the production and the play are of high caliber. If the genre/content are up your alley, I would make a real effort to attend.
FIVE BUFFALOS: Truly superb–a rare rating. Comedies that leave you weak with laughter, dramas that really touch the heart. Provided that this is the kind of show you like, you’d be a fool to miss it!
