Highly recommended adult theatre fun! Catch this cure for the common cheer...
I happen to think David Sedaris is a brilliantly funny writer. Yet, despite rave reviews, the holidays are so hectic that I've still never made it to see this show. I sincerely hope 2012 is the year. A good laugh and a bit of snark is the perfect stress release and antidote to the sugarplum sweetness of the season.
Back in my theatre days, I also worked in a lead up to Santa scenario for two years, which featured a whole enchanted woods full of fairy tale characters in improv scenes. I mostly played Little RedAlicehood but subbed as the woman in the shoe, the fisherman's wife, and other scenes as needed. I met some of my lifelong friends there and also had some wacky misadventures.
We walked in on "Santa" with a crack pipe in the elevator on his break....quite literally. Needless to say, he got fired. His drunken replacement kept dozing off and getting complaints from customers and disappeared entirely, without notice, after his first pay day.
Someone had the brilliant idea of decorating the elves cookie kitchen set with real, colored bottles of alcohol, so the bored kitchen elves did shots during the slow times, though they were a hoot and it seemed to improve their improv if anything. Two of my children's theatre actor cohorts worked nights as male strippers and one of the women did naughty singing telegrams as "Nurse Feelgood". Even though the job was exhausting and thankless, the cast were some of the most fun and funny people I've ever had the pleasure of working with. Aside from the string of substance abuse Santas....the cast of actors was professional, and excellent.
If you haven't checked out The Santaland Diaries at Theatre Wit in the past 7 years...go already. If you have...go again! Shows are selling out fast, so book your tickets now.
Theater Wit
The Santaland Diaries
by David Sedaris
adapted by Joe Mantello
Now playing
through December 30, 2012
Our holiday classic returns for it's eighth straight year, once again starring Mitchell Fain who plays to rave reviews and sold out houses every year. Don't miss this antidote to Christmas cheer. A celebration of the desperation of unemployment, the insanity of Christmas shopping and the ineffable "cheer" of the holiday spirit. David Sedaris’ beloved account of his time in the trenches as an Elf at Macy’s during the holiday season has been called the “24 funniest pages ever written in the English language.”
"Drop-dead comic delivery"
-- Gay Chicago
-- Windy City Times
-- Chicago Tribune
-- Talk Theater Chicago
-- Play pick, UR Chicago
-- New City
-- Chicago Reader
Running
Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
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