Imagine it's the month before Christmas and you have the last twenty dollar bill in your pocket and the rent is due. You're an out of work actor and you know you would never take a job dressed as a hot dog or a french fry and hand out pamphlets on a street corner but would you be willing to do something almost as humiliating: be an elf at Macy's Department Store? Actor and writer David Sedaris found himself in just that situation many years ago and he used his irreverent and sarcastic sense of humor to fashion a one man show that just completed a weekend run, November 25-27, in the upstairs lounge of the Shubert Theatre in New Haven courtesy of the Castle Craig Players.
Never fear, you have two more opportunities to see this sardonic and cynical peek at the holidays' little helpers. From Friday, December 2 to Sunday, December 4, the Farmington Valley Stage Company will be at 4 Market Street, Collinsville Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.. Tickets are $18-20 online at www.fvs.org.
Look for the Castle Craig Players December 8-11, Thursday - Saturday at 8 pm and Sunday at 2 pm, at the Almira F. Stephen Memorial Playhouse, 59 West Main Street, Meriden. For tickets, $15, call 800-838-3006 or online at www.castlecraig.org.
Ian Galligan delightfully stars as Crumpet, an elf with an attitude, one who didn't really want the job, was afraid he wouldn't get the job and now has to survive the job. The training is tedious, his fellow elves and Santas leave much to be desired and he has no use at all for the angry parents and crying kids he must deal with in a plethora of responsibilities. He uses his subversive sense of survival to make fun of the whole ordeal.
In the pretend world of Macy's enchanted land, he could find himself as entrance elf, a magic tree elf, a photo elf, a pathway to Santa elf or an emergency exit elf and he doesn't like any one of them in any disguise, especially in his green, red and gold finery.
Galligan is clearly up for the challenge of making his position as elf an entertaining one, one that looks behind the curtain, to the darker side of fantasy land that visitors rarely experience.
Crumpet has a hard time dealing with the commercial aspects of Christmas, but ultimately discovers a short cut to redemption at the end of his stint, when on Christmas Eve a different kind of Kris Kringle arrives on the scene. Melanie Del Sole directs this epic episode of elves in the house with humor and wit.
Watch for a return of Crumpet to the throne as he shares his hard earned insights into the heart and soul of elves everywhere. Are the Keebler elves next for a reveal?
Hitch up the sleigh and fly off to a Christmas experience that promises to be unique, where Andrew Benator gets to indulge his strong silly streak to release unchecked comic joy.
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