VIEWPOINTS – Cozying up to a pair of Off-Broadway musicals: York’s WELCOME TO THE BIG DIPPER and Irish Rep’s A CHILD’S CHRISTMAS IN WALES

For musical theater fans looking to stay clear of the New York holiday madness (including seeing a show on the Great White Way), I can recommend cozying up to two current Off-Broadway offerings — York Theatre Company’s production of the quirky new musical Welcome to the Big Dipper and the welcome return of Irish Repertory Theatre’s mounting of its musical adaptation of Dylan Thomas’s A Child’s Christmas in Wales, both of which are running through the end of the year. As per usual, read on for my thoughts.

Mia Pinero, Robert Cuccioli, Debra Walton, Jillian Louis, Jennifer Byrne, and Darius Harper in York Theatre Company’s production of “Welcome to the Big Dipper” at the Theatre at St. Jean’s (photo by Carol Rosegg).

WELCOME TO THE BIG DIPPER
York Theatre Company
Through December 29

Up on the Upper East Side, you’ll currently find York Theatre Company’s production of Welcome to the Big Dipper (RECOMMENDED). Created by Jimmy Roberts (score), Catherine Filloux (book), and John Daggett’s (book and additional lyrics), the flawed but endearing world premiere musical — based on Filloux’s play All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go — specifically calls to mind the musicals Come From Away and Groundhog Day, as well as more than a touch of Maltby and Shire-type revues. Set in the fictitious upstate New York town of Bigelow — located just south of Niagara Falls — the piece tells the story of a motley crew of characters (e.g., an Amish contingent on the their way back from a wedding in Canada, a crew of men headed the opposite direction to a cross-dressing competition in Canada) who are forced to book into the same family-owned inn when a major blizzard hits the area. The setup not only gives each character their turn in the spotlight, it also allows for specific points of view to coalesce in interesting ways — thanks in large part to the tuneful, heartfelt, and beautifully-sung score by Roberts (of I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change fame), as well as DeMone Seraphin’s efficient direction. But because the musical attempts to take on too much narratively and thematically, the whole thing comes together — sometimes awkwardly — more like a patchwork quilt than a unified piece of musical theater. Although the performances’ eagerness doesn’t always land, the production is centered by the affecting and grounded of Robert Cuccioli and Debra Walton as the heads of their respective families.

Kimberly Doreen Burns, Ashley Robinson, Reed Lancaster, Howard McGillin, Polly McKie, and Ali Ewoldt in Irish Repertory Theatre’s production of “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” (photo by Carol Rosegg).

A CHILD’S CHRISTMAS IN WALES
Irish Repertory Theatre
Through December 29

Then over in Chelsea, I returned for my third visit to Irish Repertory Theatre’s production of A Child’s Christmas in Wales (RECOMMENDED), which the company has been mounting since 2002 (in total, Irish Rep has mounted the production seven times). For those of you worn out by the unabashed commercialism of mechanical holiday spectacles like the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, may I suggest heading over to Charlotte Moore’s slight, decidedly old fashioned adaptation of Dylan Thomas’s book of the same name — in essence a charming collection of nostalgic reminiscences of Christmastime memories from the perspective of a boy. For Irish Rep’s straightforward, ensemble-based stage version of the Welsh poet’s work, Moore copiously sprinkles Christmas songs throughout Dylan’s first person prose, both of which are delivered with warmth and genuine goodwill by the show’s six performers. As in previous years, the current company is a heartwarming bunch. In the role of the boy (a stand-in for a young Dylan Thomas), Reed Lancaster delivers a quietly beguiling 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 returns to the show and gives an affectingly restrained performance, which is epitomized by her unadorned yet soaring rendition of “O Holy Night” (she’s joined by another Phantom alum, Howard McGillin). But perhaps best of all is the trio of Kimberly Doreen Burns, Ashley Robinson, and Polly McKie, each of whom most ideally animate Thomas’s prose to conjure an atmosphere that harkens back to simpler, quainter times — certainly in intentional defiance to what the holidays have become.

Categories: Off-Broadway, Theater

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