Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – The charming, cozily-staged musical presentation of Dylan Thomas A CHILD’S CHRISTMAS IN WALES returns to Irish Rep

• By drediman
• December 28, 2022
• No Comments

For those of you who are worn out by the sheer commercialism of mechanical holiday spectacles like the Radio City Christmas Spectacular (which I opted out of this year exactly for that reason), may I suggest a worthwhile substitute and encourage you to venture down to Chelsea to attend the quietly charming A Child’s Christmas in Wales, which has occasionally returned to Irish Repertory Theatre’s intimate stage for the holiday season since first appearing there in 2002.

The cozy and simply staged musical presentation takes its inspiration from Dylan Thomas’s literary work of the same name, which is in essence a collection of nostalgic reminiscences of Christmastime vignettes from the perspective of a young boy. For Irish Rep’s stage version of the Welsh poet’s work, director Charlotte Moore has dispersed throughout beloved Christmas songs to accompany Dylan’s first person prose, both of which are delivered with warmth and genuine goodwill by the show’s six performers.

This year’s company is a wonderful crop. In the role of the young boy, Dan Macke delivers a perfectly calibrated performance that evokes both wide-eyed wonder and the kind of innocence that many of us have lost but still pine for. Broadway’s Ali Ewoldt gives an affectingly restrained performance, which is epitomized by her unadorned yet soaring rendition of “O Holy Night”. Collectively, the ensemble does well to conjure an atmosphere that harkens back to simpler, quainter times — certainly in intentional defiance to what the holidays have become.

RECOMMENDED

A CHILD’S CHRISTMAS IN WALES
Off-Broadway, Musical
Irish Repertory Theatre
1 hour, 15 minutes (without an intermission)
Through December 31