Sarcasm, sentimentality and more
Local theaters offer diverse takes on the holidays
Holiday time at local theaters traditionally brings familiar offerings as well as some newer fare, much of it appealing to LGBT patrons.
Of course, will be back for its 14th outing at Horizon Theatre. The comedy has proven to be the grandest gaythemed offering of the entire season. Based on gay writer David Sedaris’ own experience, as told in his “Holidays On Ice,” it stars Harold M. Leaver as the snarky title character, forced to work as a department store elf during the holidays one year when money is tight.
Leaver’s co-stars are Enoch King, now in his sixth year, and LaLa Cochran. Leaver still shakes his head at how successful “Santaland” has become. What started as a staged reading now often sells out its entire run.
Last year, Leaver says, was the most successful season yet and 2012 will be ripe with all sorts of pop culture and political references.
Lesbian director Cathe Hall Payne is staging
“The Santaland Diaries” “Nuncrackers – the Nunsense Christmas Musical”
at Onstage Atlanta. The holiday follow-up to “Nunsense” features a cast of nuns trying to raise money and all original songs, says Payne. Onstage is also producing
a series of eight one-act plays. Payne is directing one of the shorts, as are gay artists Charlie Miller (“Very Trudy Christmas”) and Barry West (“Introduction” and “Colic & Petty Thief: A Christmas Story”). These are the last shows at the current location before the company moves to a new home in 2013.
Located at the home of the late, great Theatre in the Square, the new Marietta Theatre is presenting It’s part of the “Tuna” trilogy by openly gay Ed Howard, also the artistic director of the new troupe, and
Holiday Shorts,”
“Merry Little
“Fruitcake,”
“Tuna Christmas.”
features two actors — William Murphey and Douglas Berlon — playing a plethora of characters, including women.
Gay actors Spencer Stephens and Bryan Mercer are teaming up again for Synchronicity’s musical “Although more about friendship than the holidays, it’s proven to be a popular fixture and is a Suzi Award winner. Elsewhere, out actor Glenn Rainey appears in Theatrical Outfit’s
A Year With Frog and Toad.”
“The Gift of the Magi.”
Perhaps the most lavish holiday onstage treat is the Alliance Theatre’s
again featuring Chris Kayser doing a
Carol,”
“A Christmas
turn as Scrooge. The Alliance also has a new offering this year, the musical
featuring a country western trio who are setting up a honky tonk at the Alliance’s Hertz Stage.
Libby Whittemore, the popular chanteuse, brings her inimitable pipes – as well as her alter ego, Connie Sue – to Actor’s Express for
Chalks,”
“Holiday With the
“Ho, Ho, Home for the Holidays and a Connie Sue Day Christmas”
in December. Among the new holiday offerings, gay bar Jungle Atlanta turns into a Parisian nightclub – at least for two upcoming weekends.
a re-imagining of the gay French classic “La Cage Aux Folles,” opens there Nov. 23.
Originally a 1973 play about the chaos that ensues when a young man brings his fiancée’s conservative parents home to meet his barowner father and his father’s gay lover, “La Cage” became a 1978 film, which bore two sequels. It spawned a 1983 Broadway musical, penned by Harvey Fierstein, as well as the 1996 film “The Birdcage” with Robin Williams and Nathan Lane.
Director Tony Smithey is taking some liberties with his premise. In his take, which is set in Atlanta, a young couple has to deal with one’s straight parents and the other’s gay parents while on college break during the Christmas season.
“We have also added a few characters,” he says.
Feather,”
More holiday fare
“Birds of a
Two years ago, a stage version of
opened during the Christmas season at the Center for Puppetry Arts and became a sensation. It’s back as well this year and its tale of an outsider looking for acceptance is especially relevant – and fun.
Other treats include: at Fabrefaction; courtesy of Atlanta Lyric Theatre; the Martin Luther King drama via True Colors;
at Ansley Park Playhouse and a “live radio play” version of the same show
dolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”
“Little Women” “White Christmas”
“The Mountaintop” A Wonderful Life”
“It’s
at Stage Door Players; Cobb Energy Center; Aurora Theatre; and the irreverent
at Dad’s Garage.
Christmas Carol”