John McGivern Is ‘Home for the Holidays’

John McGivern is one ofthose rare performers lucky enough to display tremendous onstage appeal ashimself, talented enough to make it work without appearing egotistical andsavvy enough to carve out a career doing it. Probably the single mostrecognizable local stage actor, McGivern has been exceedingly successful indeveloping performances around his memories of growing up in Milwaukee as ababy boomer. His East Side, Catholic upbringing is well known to dedicatedaudiences familiar with his work from TV, radio and stage. His annual holidayperformance returns to the Off-BroadwayTheatre this year as McGivern presents Homefor the Holidays.

McGivern’s charm comesfrom an honest perspective on himself, his family and his childhood. The personeveryone is familiar with from stage, television and radio is pretty much thesame guy you’ll run into away from the stage. That perfect fusion of onstageand offstage personality makes McGivern an affable guy that audiences all overthe state want to spend a few hours with every year.

McGivern’s currentholiday show, which features new material, debuted at the Kohler Arts Center inSheboygan earlier this month. It’s interesting to note that when McGivern is performingin smaller towns, he tends to perform in bigger venues. The intimate space ofthe Off the Wall Theatre in the Third Ward brilliantly mirrors McGivern’shumble approachability.

In the past, McGivernhas judged new material based on how well it’s received on stages outside ofMilwaukee. Fresh material that appeared in Sheboygan this year reportedlyincludes tales of life as an altar boy, childhood snowstorms and those strange,little ball bearings sometimes found on Christmas cookies. As usual, the showis in demandas of this writing, many of McGivern’s performances have alreadysold out.

John McGivern’s Home for the Holidays continues throughJan. 2, 2010, at the Off-Broadway Theatre.