Traditional holiday revue a delightful romp
Tribune Photo/GENE KAISER
By Evan Gillespie South Bend Tribune Coorespondent
Sunday November 4, 2007
MISHAWAKA -- Since most of us still have our Halloween decorations up, it might seem a little early to be launching ourselves into the Christmas season. But The Company got a jump on things Friday, opening night for the group's "Singin' and Dancin' into the Holidays," a holiday revue that has been a local tradition for a quarter century. The weather outside may not yet be frightful, but judging from the reaction of the opening night crowd, the show is as delightful as always.
The show didn't ask too much from those not yet in the holiday spirit, at least not right away; the bulk of the numbers were drawn from Broadway, the movies, and jukeboxes from the 1950s and 60s, with a few Christmas tunes sprinkled throughout. The stage dressing -- twinkling lights, glitter, snowflakes -- left no doubt about the seasonal atmosphere that the group was shooting for, but after kicking off with Leiber and Stoller's "On Broadway," Ben Little took center stage for a rendition of Louis Prima's "I Wan'na Be Like You (The Monkey Song)" from The Jungle Book. Only then did the cast turn on the holiday cheer with a rollicking "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" and "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas."
Little was a highlight of the evening. His soulful romp through "Searchin' " (another Leiber and Stoller hit) and "Jump, Jive, an' Wail" (Louis Prima again) was nearly as much fun as his impersonations of Elvis Presley on "Treat Me Nice" and, believe it or not, Steve Martin on "King Tut."
Fun was the watchword for the evening, and there were moments when the playfulness was almost out of hand. During a Caribbean-flavored set (with, somewhat surprisingly, a centerpiece of Irishman Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl") the audience was showered with balloons, bubbles, and silly string. Later, when Tom Byers appeared on stage in Spider-Man swim trunks during "Ring Them Bells," singer Wendy Como was so struck by the hilarity of the sight that she almost couldn't go on.
There were also moments, however, of old-fashioned showmanship: Lenette Votova tap-dancing and windmilling through "Jump, Jive, an' Wail," Wendy Como belting out "Cabaret," Paige Como channeling Cab Calloway on "Minnie the Moocher," Rich Pilarski hamming it up on "Teddy Bear" and "Just a Gigolo." The whole company delivered crowd-pleasers, too, such as grand versions of "In the Mood" and the show-closing "If My Friends Could See Me Now."
The audience came for holiday songs, though, and The Company gave them what they wanted. A pair of melancholy Christmas tunes -- Carol Hall's "Hard Candy Christmas" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" -- set a wistful tone early, but they were balanced by a medley of upbeat songs -- "Silver Bells," "Sleigh Ride," "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," "Jingle Bells," and "White Christmas" -- near the end of the show. There were plenty of comic Christmas hijinks, too: Wendy, Paige, and Janis Logsdon in a three-headed Santa suit (which sets up a joke about the jolly old soul's laugh that I won't spoil here), Paige in an extravagantly ridiculous elf costume, and Logsdon embarrassing men in the audience during "Santa Baby." It was all wrapped up sincerely, however, with a nice arrangement, ranging from choral to gospel, of "Hail, Holy Queen."
The show was beset by a few unfortunate miscues, but the overall impression left was of a troupe that worked extremely hard. From a pre-show warm-up through a nearly two-and-a-half-hour revue, the company slugged its way through dozens of numbers, and the audience was with them every step of the way.
The above article has been reproduced in its entirity and with the permission of The South Bend Tribune. It was originally published on Sunday November 4, 2007.
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