‘Scrooge in Rouge’ a delicious alternative to holiday treacle
Hey, I love In Tandem Theatre’s popular “A Cudahy Caroler Christmas” as much as anyone, and I’ve already purchased my ticket for its one-night return on Dec.11.
But that other In Tandem holiday special — “Scrooge in Rouge,” back for the first time since 2011 — is simply better: smarter, tougher, more clever and wickedly funny in sending up Dickens and “A Christmas Carol.” If you’ve had enough of saccharine sentiment and sugarplums, this spiked eggnog is just the holiday brew for you.
Ricky Graham (book and lyrics) and composer Jefferson Turner’s campy confection is a cross between Monty Python and Benny Hill that also suggests “Noises Off” and hearkens back to the heyday of the English music hall.
Stepping onto scenic designer Linda Freund’s re-creation of such a vaudevillian stage, tuxedoed character actor Charlie Schmaltz (Chris Flieller) informs us that 20 of his third-rate troupe’s 23 actors have come down with food poisoning. The surviving, still-vertical trio is nevertheless determined to honor the adage that the show – a rendition of “A Christmas Carol” – must go on.
Leaping into the breach with Flieller’s Charlie, who himself covers the waterfront from Marley to Fred: a cross-dressing, falsetto-voiced Nathan Marinan as a cross-dressing diva named Lottie Obbligato, tackling most of the female roles, including Fan, Belle and Mrs. Cratchit.
Not to be outdone, a cross-dressing Elyse Edelman – fresh from her delightful turn as a wicked baroness in the First Stage “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” – makes the Rep’s Scrooge look like a softie. “He was so mean he’d send a Mother’s Day card to an orphan,” Lottie tells us. “He was so tightfisted fortunetellers had to read his knuckles,” Charlie pipes in.
You get the idea: channel Dickens’ penchant for melodrama and inflate things still further. Edelman’s Scrooge takes so much delight in his wicked ways that he can’t contain himself: He continually repeats an ebullient skipand-hop, itself accompanying a gleefully demented grin and occasional wink.
Borrowing liberally from “Carol” even as they deconstruct it, Scrooge and friends treat us to nearly 20 twisted, politically incorrect musical numbers, accompanied all the while by the smooth playing of pianist Josh Robinson.
They include a music hall staple about seaside vacations that has absolutely nothing to do with the plot, except that it does: Like so many of the songs in this show, it satirizes sentimentalism (my favorite, “So Much Love,” joins Scrooge in asking why the Cratchits didn’t practice birth control).
Director Jane Flieller ensures a polished performance from three very good actors playing this trio of hopelessly bad ones: Every botched entrance and cue is exquisitely timed and executed. Ditto the quick changes involving Kathy Smith’s hilarious costumes, in a show that sheds clothes and skewers illusions without ever losing its commitment to sheer Christmas joy.
“Scrooge in Rouge” continues through Jan. 7 at the Tenth Street Theatre, 628 N. 10th St. For tickets, call (414) 271-1371 or visit www.intandem theatre.org. Read more about this production at TapMilwaukee.com.