Holiday spoofs naughty, naughtier still
' A Blue Christmas' tops list; 'The Eight' just turns listless
By Tom Sime / The Dallas Morning News
At the mall and on the stage, holiday specialty products are niche marketed to the cynical and jaded. Out there among the candy-striped condoms and peekaboo Santa suits are such adults-only Christmas plays as The Eight: Reindeer Monologues at Ozona Bar & Grill and A Blue Christmas at the Pocket Sandwich Theatre. Both opened Friday night.
While A Blue Christmas is the home-grown brainchild of Dallas comedy team David Lugo and Andy Long, The Eight represents a national miniphenomenon. Since its debut in Chicago five years ago, it's become popular on the alternative-theater circuit. Joe D. Russell directs its Texas premiere at Ozona.
Writer Jeff Goode updates the legend of Santa Claus' eight tiny reindeer with the trappings of today's victim culture. Vixen has charged Santa with sexual abuse, and the other flying reindeer on the team either reject or rally around her.
It was a great idea for a satirical play but a lousy idea to write it as eight successive solo turns, a format that proves forced and wearying. The antler-clad cast marches on deer after deer, leading up to the firsthand testimony of Vixen herself (Julia Park).
It's funny for a while. Dasher, the team leader, is a cigar-chomping teamster type played by Hal Bickers. Cupid (Keith Willard) is a flaming-gay flirt. Blitzen (Ruth Mirelly Osuna) is a militant feminist.
Mr. Goode runs out of ideas before our eyes, however, and as the monologues progress, they grow bizarre, then almost grave. By the time we get to Vixen's tearfully defiant tale of rape, both novelty and humor are gone. The play could work better with first-rate actors, but the performances here are marginal.
There's nothing thought-provoking about A Blue Christmas. It's pure, gleeful filth - lascivious, depraved and blasphemous. In short, the perfect gift for any fruitcakes on the Christmas list.
The show is a series of sketches following up on Lugo and Long's earlier When We Were Funny, where they played an aging comedy team. Here, Mr. Lugo has checked into a retirement home and reminisces about his late comedy partner. In flashbacks, we see them in action.
Any flimsy premise is acceptable if it gets these two cooking. They're spectacularly shameless, particularly Mr. Lugo, who has the I'll-do-anything-for-a-laugh mania of a Jerry Lewis or Jim Carrey. Luckily, he has the skill to feed his craving.
The show is screamingly funny, meaning that in addition to howling, groaning and cackling, people actually scream with mock-horrified delight at the extremes the team goes to. No bodily function, ethnicity or sexual orientation is sacred.
Nor is Christmas, which is reduced in these plays to a setup for punch lines. But perhaps we're all grown-up enough now - and no one who isn't should see either show - to cope with visions other than sugarplums dancing, indeed doing the bump and grind, in our heads.
Performance information
The Eight: Reindeer Monologues, presented by Ozona Bar & Grill, 4615 Greenville Ave., through Dec. 23. Written by Jeff Goode. Directed by Joe D. Russell. Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at 7 p.m., Thursdays at 11 p.m. Tickets $10. No one under 17 admitted. Call 214-265-9105. A Blue Christmas, presented by the Pocket Sandwich Theatre, 5400 E. Mockingbird Lane, through Dec. 18. Written and performed by David Lugo and Andy Long. Fridays and Saturdays at 11:15 p.m. Tickets $10. Recommended for adults only. Call 214-821-1860.