Every Christmas Story Ever Told
Hilarious, irreverent, ingenious. There are not enough adjectives to describe the magnificence of this show. "Every Christmas Ever Told" is a farcical tale cleverly recounting all of your vivid childhood memories of Christmas merchandising. Mildly disrespectful, occasionally profound, with not so subtle undertones illuminating the profuse commercialism associated with Christmas in America; our favorite Festival actors bring to life ALL of the BHC's (Beloved Holiday Classics).
Timothy Williams, Eric Hissom and Philip Nolen epitomize the exceptional performances we have come to expect from the UCF Shakespeare Festival actors. Timothy is the overt humorist and dazzles us with his accelerated alliterations and electrified elocution. Eric, a long time festival favorite and master of subtle satire, assumes his perennial role as the antagonist, this time portraying Scrooge, the Grinch and George Baily. Philip is the ever-loveable wide-eyed optimist who manages to take Eric down a few notches for his disbelief in Santa, and makes a truly inspiring Macy's parade balloon.
The dialogue of the play is rapidly complex and nearly flawless in execution. Eric simultaneously portrays George Baily and Scrooge and the parallels between the two stories are tied together nicely. As is typical with this company, jokes and local humor are peppered throughout for relevance like the comment about the festival "going broke doing Shakespeare" or the analogy of Celebration having a stepford-like quality or the comment that the dishevelled stage looks like "Wal-Mart on black Friday."
Props and sets are creatively simple yet stunningly appropriate. The grinch made with a Green Bay packers pom pom hat, the Macy's float dangling barbie dolls and the prospectors sled with limp stuffed dogs at the lead were memorable high points.
From the youngest of Christmas hopefuls to the stodgiest of scrooges, this show is a must see for the entire family. Mark and I plan to see the show for a second time on Christmas Eve and this time will be taking both sets of parents. Whether to see Tim and Eric on stage together for 90 minutes or to laugh till your sides and cheeks hurt I stongly recommend that you see this show.
What the critis are saying:
"At such moments, the play accomplishes the small miracle of making all Christmas myths seem both utterly ridiculous and absolutely essential. Yes, Virginia, you can have your fruitcake and eat it, too."-Orlando Weekly
"Most theatergoers will welcome that punch in the gut because it comes from three Shakespeare Festival stalwarts, and even much-maligned fruitcake becomes fruitier and nuttier in their hands."-Orlando Sentinel
"If you're getting bored with seeing "A Christmas Carol" every December, grab Tiny Tim, shout a lusty "Bah, humbug!", and hie ye to the Orlando Shakespeare Festival, where three talented actors are making mincemeat pie of Christmas traditions with a gaudy confection of a show that will have you laughing harder than spiked egg nog."-The OtherOrlando.com
Reviews & Photos at:
Comments