It's always tricky finding the right balance for the holidays. Invariably, something is out of synch. If the tree is the right height, then the ornaments on't fit quite where they should. You get all of your shopping done, but you've bought all the wrong presents. You parents are visiting for the week of the 25th, but … your parents are visiting for the week of the 25th. And so on…
The challenge is to find the right balance. And that extends to holiday programming onstage as well. Tradition is very important this time of year, but if you're staging another production of something that everyone's already seen a million times, you want to try to keep it fresh. So maybe you play with it a little bit. Maybe you've got James Pickering as Mrs. Fezziwig. this year. And maybe that's just the right amount of change to keep everyone happy. But it's really tricky.
An amalgamated group of comic actors seem to have the right idea this year at the Alchemist Theatre. If you put together a package that's just responsive enough to the whims of chance and if you stage it in an intimate, little venue that kind of feels like a family it might just work out right.
A Kick in the Dickens 2: More Stuff In The Stocking is a fun, casual night out for live comedy that has just the right amount of formality about it. Will they do cheesy sketch comedy? Yes. Will some of it be exceptionally bad? Absolutely. Will some of the improv that they're doing feel extremely weak? Of course it will--this IS improv . . . but the group assembled here seems to be having a good time. Of course, this wouldn't really mean anything if the amalgamated group of comic actors weren't also exceedingly good at delivering that fun to those of us in the audience. Of course, if you're not looking closely enough, it can all look like a kind of a dizzyingly formless amalgamated group of comics. Here's kind of a closer look at each one of them based on vague impressions from last night's performance:
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Anna Figlesthaler--has a really sharp presence onstage. (I think I've mentioned that before. Maybe not.) There's a confidence in the way she presents herself onstage that is a lot of fun to watch. Everything else can appear to be falling apart around her for the briefest instance and there she is maintaining this sense of complete unflappability that has its own kind of comedy about it. I really like that kind of comic energy and I wish it was featured onstage more often. Figlesthaler is really good at that sort of thing.
Mathew Huebsch--has kind of a commanding presence onstage that never manages to creep over into egotistical or rigidly stifling dynamics. He's clearly got a highly developed sense of humor that could veer off in a direction that would upstage the rest of what's going on. And he's can do a pretty cool Scottish accent.
Andrea Moser--has a warm, empathic presence onstage. She was chosen as being the one to play the character who believed in the myth of the magical Lumbering Mistletoe in the extended Dickensian one-act at the end of the show. This is no accident. Her comic energy comes from a really sweet place that adds a softer edge to the comic dynamic of the show.
Jason Powell--is particularly good with the songs he's written for the show. clever comic bits that find a place in and around the holidays. Come to think of it, I can only remember a couple of these, but they were good enough to feel much more numerous than that. He sings the show's title song to open things up, which sets the stage for him being something of a central connective figure onstage. He's not hosting the show, but he's got the right kind of energy to make it feel like he is in a sense. I don't think this is a bad thing. But it's clearly not intended. Everyone seems to be sharing space onstage quite well.
Lee Rowley--lent a particularly sharp structural sense of storytelling to the extended improvised one-act at the end of the show opening night. He seems to be working with pretty elaborate stuff in improv and it doesn't always work, but there are moments where it really comes together. And the fact that he's got such a nice guy presence onstage means that you don't want to punch him in the face when it's not quite funny. And he's particularly good as the ghost of Jacob Marley in the best sketch on the program.
A Kick In The Dickens 2 runs through December 28th. For ticket reservations, visit the Alchemist Theatre online.
A concise review runs in the print edition of the next Shepherd-Express.
