Exhibitionism

The Santaland Diaries: The Ultimate Holiday Blues Buster

Running Time: 1 hr, 15 min

How do you know it’s the holidays? Is it the colored lights dripping from all the trees on your block? Is it the peace for all people on Earth you sense in the air? Is it the renewed love you feel for your friends and neighbors? Or is it the fact that The Santaland Diaries is playing again at the Zachary Scott Theatre Center?

Director Dave Steakley and actor Martin Burke are at it again in this year’s production of The Santaland Diaries, with help from the ever-lovely Meredith McCall and pianist Jason Connor. For those of you who have yet to experience this holiday treat, the bulk of The Santaland Diaries is made up of writer David Sedaris’ recounting of his real-life experience as a Macy’s elf, adapted for the stage. It’s a well-told tale that’s funny (at times screamingly, weepingly funny), irreverent, and, by the end of the evening, sneakily heartwarming. And with Martin Burke in the driver’s seat as Krumpet the elf, this show is a nonstop, exhilarating ride.

From start to finish, Burke has the energy of an amphetamine-dosed squirrel. He shifts from character to character with lightning speed but never once loses the audience along the way. And the characters themselves, while teetering on the brink of stereotype, never cross the line into flat parody. Even the most ridiculous members of the supporting cast (the elf who wants to wear her costume home, the smarmy Santa who tries to pick up single women in line) seem like individual, unique weirdos, not just assembly-line freaks.

The most delightful element of the Saturday afternoon performance I attended, though, was Burke’s ad-libs: the bitter invective he hurled at audience members who left the theatre briefly midshow, presumably because they couldn’t “hold their pee,” his banter with a mechanical snowman set piece that refused to revolve as intended. His chemistry with McCall was superb as well; their informal back-and-forth was unpredictable, but not at all out of place. Burke’s whining hinted at a bitterness completely at home in this world of unwilling elves and disingenuous Santas.

For this production, Steakley has interspersed Sedaris’ riotous text with off-kilter show tunes, mostly holiday-themed, which McCall delivers with sardonic, wry panache. Opening the show with “Santa Baby,” McCall owns the audience in minutes, oozing sex appeal and considerable star power. Steakley’s choice of songs complements Sedaris’ off-the-wall narrative and gives the production a cohesive smoothness. Also notable is set designer Heyd Fontenot’s playful winter wonderland: Amid the sugarplums and gumdrops nestled in the snowdrifts, did I notice an antidepressant capsule or two?

The Santaland Diaries is a great show for those who have had enough of the sticky-sweet holiday hype that plagues our senses this time of year. Like a good mouthwash, this show clears out all the candy cane residue of the season as fast as you can say Blitzen and replaces it with fresh, clean, acidic wit.

This article appears in December 27 • 2002.