Print``CHRISTMAS BELLES''
Presented by Company One and Phoenix Theatre Artists at Boston Playwrights' Theatre, Saturday. Through Dec. 19.
It's Christmastime in Texas, and things are just the kookiest. The enduring power of wacky is the unifying force in ``Christmas Belles,'' Phoenix Theatre Artists and Company One's alterna-holiday offering at Boston Playwrights' Theatre.
If the actors weren't standing so close, you'd swear you were in front of the TV. ``Christmas Belles'' moves with the familiar rhythms of a sitcom, where there's an object lesson for every joke and an elaborate misunderstanding behind every problem. That isn't surprising, considering one of the play's three writers was a regular pen for ``The Golden Girls.''
Set in the fictional podunk town of Fayro, Texas, ``Christmas Belles'' follows the Futrelle sisters through one eventful December. Honey Raye (Heather Peterson) as been handed the reins of the Tabernacle of the Lamb's annual Christmas pageant. And, like a Charlie Brown in silver spandex and spiked heels, she's having trouble making it all come together.
As for the other Futrelles, arsonist Twink (Carrie Ann Quinn) has been let out of jail to help with the pageant - but she'd rather plot revenge against her two-timing ex. Frankie (Barbara Douglass) is massively pregnant with twins, and hoping that her husband (Dave Sanfacon) can make ends meet with a gig as a drugstore Santa Claus.
As the plot unspools, everything goes predictably to hell. Between star-crossed lovers, widespread food poisoning, sniping co-directors and the reveal of a long-held family secret, it's easy to lose track of it all. Director Greg Maraio does the best he can to keep it all on track, and also turns out some luscious costumes to keep our eyes distracted.
The ensemble clearly has a good time. Peterson makes a convincing, big-haired eye of the storm, and Kara Manson provides much-needed earthboundness as Frankie's well-intentioned daughter. But the funniest guy onstage has got to be Rory Kulz, whose turn as town moron Raynerd Chisum is as sweet as it is creepy.
``Christmas Belles'' can sometimes lose us in all its shuffling and expositioning, but that's really more the fault of Nicholas Hope, Jessie Jones and Jamie Wooten's script than the production. In any case, it all comes back together in the much-anticipated pageant, which is more genuinely funny than most of the script's wordy jokes. Sometimes, it just takes a Wise Man in sequins to bring it all back.
- jenna.scherer@gmail.com
