Coming up with new ideas for children's Christmas plays can be tougher than asking Santa to shed enough pounds to squeeze down the chimney, but Fell's Point Corner Theatre has taken up the challenge with "Oh, Holy Night!" an original script by Kathleen Barber.
A veteran of five Baltimore Playwrights Festivals, Barber clearly had a different agenda here. The cast had to include children from Fell's Point Corner's Out-Reach classes; the plot had to end with an uplifting moral; and, of course, the play had to be set during the Christmas season.
Barber has solved all of these problems, though some of her solutions -- particularly in terms of plot -- are a little too neat to be credible.
"Oh, Holy Night!" takes place at a Colorado ski lodge that is the setting for one of those syrupy network TV specials in which various stars croon Christmas carols. The host of this special is a Perry Como-style performer named Nevin. (The Como comparison is based primarily on Jim Farrell's cardigan sweater.)
In an attempt to boost ratings, Nevin has agreed to include a rock singer who goes by the name of "The Essence Of," and who is supposedly the highest paid performer in America. Nicole Egerton plays her in full punk regalia -- nose ring, death-pallor makeup, spiky red hair and an abundance of attitude, most of it aimed at denigrating Christmas.
Two other stars also appear on the special -- John Winston (Pete Taylor), a singer whose career has been plagued by rumors of gangland connections, and Mae Allen (Martha Saunders) who hasn't been on TV in 15 years and hopes this show will bring her a movie contract.
Nevin, John and Mae aren't happy about appearing with "The Essence Of," and she feels the same way about them. They argue about their parts, their lines and especially about who will sing "Oh, Holy Night!" One thing they agree on is the inclusion of an untrained children's choir. "The Essence Of" has insisted on this choir, we're told, claiming it's more important that they sound like kids than pros.
This is one of Barber's several clever touches. Another is the TV-special format itself, which provides a context for lots of Christmas songs. As to the matter of a moral ending, this is where Barber allows neatness to overtake credibility.
By the end of this 80-minute play, "The Essence Of" has re-discovered "the essence of" Christmas. Her transformation is partly due to her relationship with her younger sister, sweetly played by Lucy Struever. Mostly, however, it stems from a heart-to-heart talk in which Nevin tells her, "Christmas is a gift. . . . Only by giving it away do we have any hope of getting it back."
Barber tends to write moral epigrams in ordinary circumstances, so such platitudes could be expected in a Christmas play. "The Essence's" transformation is harder to swallow, and the static, almost whispered manner in which director Anne Pardoe stages the crucial scene doesn't help.
Barber, however, has another skill that proves well-suited to this assignment. She's good at writing about families. Not only does "The Essence Of" re-discover her family feeling, but she also helps create that feeling on the set of the special. And, though this is too pat, this Fell's Point Corner production is a relatively pleasant holiday experience.
THEATER REVIEW
What: "Oh, Holy Night!"
Where: Fell's Point Corner Theatre, 251 S. Ann St.
When: 8 p.m. Thursdays, 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Saturdays, 7 p.m. Sundays; through Dec. 11
Tickets: $10
$ Call: (410) 276-7837