DC Reviews: Finally, a holiday show for the Jews! "A Hanukkah Carol" is smart and very funny
...and Dickens would like it, too. Plus, two more shows to see this month: a bawdy musical and intricate comedy-drama.
Hello, playgoers! The holiday season is upon us, and I’ve just come from the theatre, where I’m pleased to report you have three fantastic options to take your family or friends for a great night out here in DC!
First up, Signature Theatre has a very, very funny production of “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.” It’s silly, bawdy, raunchy—I don’t think I’ve laughed that hard since “Oh, Mary” this summer. The show premiered in 1962 and was Sondheim’s second major work. The misogyny of the era has always been a dark spot on this otherwise solid farce with a great score, but director Matthew Gardiner has queer-ified it, proving once again that anything is better when you play around with gender. The key choice here is casting Erin Weaver as the traditionally-male lead—she is a brilliant comedienne and can make you laugh with just a glance (and her singing and acting are also top-notch.) All the performances are strong, with the actors improvising and occasionally breaking down laughing—they’re having a blast right along with us. (Playing through January 12 at Signature Theatre; 2.5 hours with one intermission.)
If slapstick isn’t your thing, Studio Theatre’s production of David Auburn’s brilliantly constructed comedy-drama “Summer, 1976” is excellent. Two of the Washington area’s best veteran actresses, Kate Eastwood Norris and Holly Twyford, convey fully realized characters: two moms who become friends one summer. The decades-spanning story they tell (through narration and scenes) is simply fascinating—see this for the superb performances, the engaging story, and to marvel at how a gifted playwright weaves an intricate tale together. (Playing through January 12 at Studio Theatre; 90 minutes with no intermission.)
Review: “A Hanukkah Carol” plops Dickens into the social media age
Hanukkah isn’t a major Jewish holiday—its calendar alignment with Christmas has inflated its import for American Jews eager to have their own reason to celebrate and exchange gifts. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t carry real meaning for generations of Jews who have grown up celebrating the holiday. The world premiere musical “A Hanukkah Carol, or Gelt Trip! The Musical” at Round House Theatre, plays on this central experience of American Jews—a diaspora people adept at assimilating the predominant culture they find themselves in—by transposing “A Christmas Carol” onto Hanukkah.
An adaptation of a great work like this can always bomb. But with a smart book by Harrison Bryan and Rob Berliner, the show manages to be both a respectful adaptation of that classic play, a meta-commentary on why Jews might want their own holiday show in the first place, and, somehow, also a spot-on critique of social media.
The show opens with a group of carolers gathered outside a home singing and wearing traditional 19th century suits, dresses, and capes. But they’re dressed all in shades of blue (for Hanukkah!) and singing in Hebrew. It makes no sense but had me chuckling instantly. A “Dickensian Orphan” appears as our narrator, speaking in an English accent and dressed accordingly. It’s another goofy choice, but one that somehow works. He leads a rousing opening number celebrating all the “miracles” of the season. I do love a meta moment, and one comes right away: “It’s a miracle! / From all the options, we’re the show you’d choose / It’s a miracle! / An evening you can’t watch or read the news / That with so many goddamn Christmas shows / Why do ones for Jews?” The upbeat, catchy music is by Aaron Kenny.
During this melee of funny lyrics and references to “Fiddler on the Roof,” our Ebenezer Scrooge appears, asking them to just “Shut up!” She’s Chava Kanipshin (even the names are funny), a millennial influencer who posts hurtful videos of people doing embarrassing things, tearing people down to build herself up. She receives a gift of “magic gelt” (chocolate coins eaten at Hanukkah, though usually not magic) and just a bite takes her off on a “gelt trip” (get it?) complete with visitations from the ghost of her influencer hero and the spirits of Hanukkah Past, Present, and Future. It turns out she wasn’t always so misanthropic and self-centered, and the show really starts to find its way as it turns to scenes of her as a kid.
The standout performance is from Katrina Michaels, who plays Past Chava and that Dickensian Orphan with absolute gusto, bringing a bright earnestness that suits both characters. In the “Hanukkah Past” segment, Chava and her friend, Barb (Bekah Zornosa, also excellent), do a “Hanukkah play” for their parents in the style of 90s boy bands (here called “Boyz II Mensch.”) It turns out Chava loved Hannukah at one time. This scene is so funny: the choreography they create for themselves, the lyrics they write—it’s all so darn cute! Her parents, videocam in hand, watch with pride. (Is this what my own childhood shows looked like? If so, thanks for hanging in with me, mom and dad!) Marlo Hunter’s direction and choreography make this scene pop and generally keeps things moving at a steady clip.
This idyllic past is punctured when young Chava goes to a school holiday party. Her bully classmates don’t understand why she can’t just celebrate Christmas like them and tease her for her Hebrew name. (But they don’t mind eating all the jelly donuts she brings.) When she discovers a social media influencer whose creed is to attack others before they can hurt you first, she’s inspired. Chava turns her back on her Jewish identity, rebrands herself “VaVa,” and launches her social media career.
I thought this was an interesting critique across several dimensions: first, that one can disavow a semi-invisible identity like being Jewish by creating an online identity that eschews it; and second, that at its core, social media thrives on laughing at the expense of others. How many videos of people falling down have you seen? Are we laughing with them or at them? Satire is so effective because it distills things down to an essence—her social media hero’s song is called “Hurt People”—that causes you to see the larger phenomenon in a new light.
I won’t spoil the rest of the plot; suffice to say it follows the beats of “A Christmas Carol” in many ways. The central thrust of both is a protagonist who hates their December holiday but learns to be kinder by the end. Scrooge loves money; Chava loves ‘likes’ and followers. The play finds a clever way to incorporate that famous character Tiny Tim. But it doesn’t get overly caught up in the source material’s plot points, using it as a launching point and not a prescriptive recipe.
The show had played fewer than 10 previews when I saw it. Some of that newness showed. It’s exciting seeing a show that is truly in development—the song list in the program is “as of November 11,” and when I saw it on November 27, a few songs were cut and some may have been added, too. The show has a few minor storytelling gaps in the second half and the quick wrap-up of the various story lines didn’t totally click. Some of the lyrics could use refining, the jokes sharpening, and the transitions between dialogue and song tightening up. These are all things that can be cleaned up with further development, which I sincerely hope the show will have the opportunity to do (and the attachment of commercial producers makes that more likely). I think it has real potential—I’d especially like to see it in a bigger theatre with a bigger cast, where it could realize its full ambition. This is the kind of show that needs a large, rowdy crowd with many people who will get the in-group Jewish jokes and laugh freely.
Even despite these quibbles, Round House has put together a solid production—an inventive set design from Andrew Cohen makes full use of the space, presenting three fully realized settings on a rotating turntable. I particularly loved Chava’s parents’ home, fully decked out for the holiday with decorations up and down the walls. The band, under Angie Benson’s direction, sounded great. The eight-person cast (one for each night of Hanukkah!) somehow makes the show feel much bigger than that, with most performers doing triple-duty playing multiple principal and ensemble roles.
Just as with Scrooge, in the end Chava changes her tune and uses her platform for good, reconciling with her family and best friend. It’s a feel-good ending that sends you out chuckling and with a smile on your face. But more than with the cheap-and-easy thrills of so much holiday programming, “A Hanukkah Carol” also provides smart takes on what it’s like to be Jewish in a predominantly Christian country and the harm that social media can do. Maybe we should all put down our phones and be present with our family and friends this holiday season. Or better yet, go see a show together!
(Playing through December 29 at Round House Theatre. 90 minutes with no intermission. Disclosure: I saw the show in previews, so there may have been changes before it was “frozen” after its opening night. At the performance I attended, Caleb Hoyer was the music director.)
See you at the theatre!