;102 LITE FM is already playing Christmas music 24/7. The Christmas shopping season has already begun with the madness of Black Friday’s unbeatable sales and ridiculously early wake-up calls. Christmas trees are for sale. And so, it is also time to make fun of all of that with the Brave New Workshop’s holiday show, “Stuck In The Manger With You; or Carol On, My Wayward Son.”
WHEN: 8 p.m, Fridays; 7 and 10 p.m., Saturdays; 8 p.m., select Wednesdays and Thursdays; 7 p.m., select Sundays; through Jan. 26
WHERE: The Brave New Workshop, 2605 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis
TICKETS: $23 to $25 depending on the night, check www.bravenewworkshop.org or call (612) 332-6620 for more information
Not afraid to take those traditions we hold most dear and pull out the funny, the five members of the cast rip apart the sacred notion surrounding everything Christmas and piece it back together in their holiday skits.
The opening scene of a UPS driver (Joe Bozic) attempting to get that package across town so it will get to its destination in time for Christmas passes a few speed bumps in the form of unsuspecting pedestrians, angry shoppers and reindeer to the tune of Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out For A Hero.”
The skit was so wildly popular in last year’s show that it was dusted off and put in prime position in this year’s show, to roaring laughter.
The UPS skit was not the only reprise of a successful skit. Once again, the actors perform renditions of “The Shrieking Mothers Chorus” and the “Angry Father’s Chorus,” to the tune of the “12 Days of Christmas.”
The fathers say, “Are you sure you’re not gay?” “Pull my finger” and “Go ask your mother.” The mothers threaten to give gifts away, or to only buy toys made in China.
The lines get only sillier as the song goes on, and it’s a credit to the actors’ ability to act drunk on a moment’s notice or channel anger from a Christmas long past into yelling at imaginary children to go to bed.
Mike Fotis and Josh Eakright play Reindeer stuck in a sort of Top Gun time warp, ending with a Brokeback twist. The deer are arguing over Rudolph’s daredevil moves in the sky and his unwillingness to read the training manual. Their fighting eventually morphed into something more, Rudolph screaming, “Not again!”
The skit continues as one of the deer argues, “The North Pole isn’t ready for our deer love!” Lesson learned: When the fake hooves are a cloppin’, don’t come a knockin’.
Al Gore attempts to market a Christmas CD, “I’m Dreaming of An Unseasonably Warm Christmas,” including the soon-to-be hit, “All I Want For Christmas is a responsible emissions policy.” It results in a cutesy version of a holiday CD for sale on television, not all that farfetched, and Josh Eakright’s parody is dead-on.
Ellie Hino as M. Night Shyamalan makes an appearance with an Advent Calendar full of M. Night Shyamalan twists, which is perhaps a little too weird for its own good, but then, did you see “Lady in the Water?”
But Lauren Anderson steals the show, with a reprise of her performance of Frosty the Snowman from the Ivey Awards in September of this year, which honors theater in the Twin Cities. The drunken karaoke quickly turns into a rendition of a one-night stand with co-worker Ted gone awry.
“By the way Ted,” she slurs, “I’m three weeks late.”
