(OUTscene NW) RE-view: ARTSwest's 'Judy's SCARY Little Christmas' is Holiday Camp, Eye-candy FUN at its BEST!

Photo: Michael Brunk

by MK Scott

Judy Garland and Christmas go Hand in Hand, but Judy's SCARY Little Christmas got my interest. Just from the title alone you know you are in for some CAMPY Fun.

Our friends at ARTSwest just opened Judy’s Scary Little Christmas (directed by OUTview Pal, Troy Wageman, who most recently directed the Robbie Turner Revue), an original musical written by James Webber and David Church, with music and lyrics by Joe Patrick Ward. It is a spoof on television variety shows of the 1950s, satirizing celebrities’ public images and private lives. The fictional story employs a metaphysical plot twist (as in the television series, The Twilight Zone) and spiritual redemption through a ghost (as in Charles Dickens’ novel, A Christmas Carol.) The show contains campy humor based on the sensationalized personal lives of the celebrities, with satirical references to pop culture and politics of the 1950s.

The first stage reading was directed by Leonard Foglia in January 2000 at the John Houseman Theatre Center in New York City, with Isabel Keating as “Judy Garland,” and continued when the play was staged that December, in fact, I saw Keating playing Judy again in the 'Boy from OZ' in 2004 and sounds like she could have been discovered from the show to play Judy again in 'OZ'.

Photo: Michael Brunk

The plot goes with Judy Garland (the Perfect and Fab Lisa Mandelkorn)  is hosting a live television special on Christmas Eve 1959, with trio of CUTE chorus boys (Joel Domenico, Jordan Jackson, Bo Mellinger), with guest stars Bing Crosby (Brian Lange), Liberace (The flamboyant, David Caldwell), Ethel Merman (The FAB, Kate Jaeger), Richard Nixon (Ricky Pope), Lillian Hellman (Pat Sibley) and Joan Crawford (The FAB Ryan McCabe in Drag). Judy’s guests smile and entertain when they’re on-camera but reveal their egos and rivalries during the off-camera breaks.Then the lights go out and the door is blown open the the The Ghost of DEATH appears pointing to Judy.

Photo: Michael Brunk

Then coincidentally, the plot goes cosmic like in the recently RE-viewed: The Mountaintop and Marilyn, Sleep and Dream. This must be a trend of productions with actors playing Real Life legends and  playing in the afterlife. 'Judy' goes there, when it turns out that they are actually in the present, not the past, and that they are all dead. He makes the celebrities remember and confess their reasons for coming back to the physical world before they return with him to judgment. Judy confesses, but refuses to leave until a sympathetic fan (a sailor ( the gorgeous, Domenico) who was Liberace’s date) helps her to believe in her own legacy. She sings the song “Make It Shine,” leaves the stage as her guest wish her everlasting peace.

With a full house the show had everything you need for a 'Gay Liitle Christmas'. This is one of the Best (according to at least one audience member)  ARTSwest has done in years. 

Judy's SCARY Little Christmas at ARTSwest continues Through December 28th. Click HERE for More.

Photo: Michael Brunk