ROAST YOUR CHESTNUTS – The Hobgoblin Playhouse Main Stage
Reviewed by Amalisha HuEck
Say goodbye to the Mrs. Claus you thought you once knew – she’s done with the North Pole, sick of the cheerful hoopla, and is finally here to sleigh. ROAST YOUR CHESTNUTS is a 30-minute solo Mrs. Claus spectacle, roasting and toasting all your holiday nuts to a complementary 69 degrees.
Tanya Dickson (writer/performer) is the most adorable and the most unusual Mrs. Clause I have ever seen. With constant comedic blend of cleverly written, authentic storytelling she utilizes specific relatable character quirks and gets audience out laughing throughout the piece.
It starts with her going through some silly letters sent to Mr. Clause and writing in her diary. She is here on Earth plane, and finds humans boring, preoccupied with Netflix and other social media stuff, so she decides to shake things a little. She came to Hollywood to make some good friends, and she is now ready for her spotlight.
She goes through the Christmas wishes, the letters that have been sent to Santa, but finds out that many of them don’t belong there. She looks great for her age 958, my Goodness, thanks for the plastic surgery. Her relationship with Santa is strange, he needs her mostly for his ‘cookies.’ But she loves reindeer and she is very fond of Jack Frost. Paparazzi’s attention is welcome here and she stroke a chord with Kardashians. When she was on North Pole, where they have WI-FI now, everyone needed her advice. Mrs. Claus deserves some Christmas miracle, so she is here to stay for a while.
World Premiere by Moontide LA Productions Mrs. Clause, directed by Ashley Karp, is funny, straightforward, and unexpected. A deep dive into using imagination and establishing straightforward patterns, knowing exactly when to pause for suspense, and jumping from silliness to silliness, builds nicely on laughter throughout the play. A combination of a character comedy, stand-up and chaotic holiday cabaret is expressed boldly and bawdily. Executive producers are Michael McHale and Pam Levin. Co-Producer is Elba Soto-Quinones.
The performances were at The Hobgoblin Playhouse on Gardner (Main Stage), 1516 N. Gardner Street, on Friday, June 5 at 8:30 p.m., June 13 at 9 p.m., and June 21 at 3 p.m. This production is 45 minutes long.