Let's look at the other side of the Christmas coin, or the Hannukah gelt, and get a view of those who think differently, like David Sedaris, for example. In search of work one year, he signed on as an elf — named Crumpet, no less — working in the winter wonderland at Macy's in New York. He kept a diary during a one-season career in retail, and it grew into "The Santaland Diaries," first broached during a standup in a Chicago night club. It opened a St. Louis run during the weekend as a Stray Dog Theatre production at Tower Grove Abbey.
Radio host Ira Glass interviewed Sedaris, put his sketches on the air. Actor-director Joe Mantello helped work them into a stage production, and it's become part of the Christmas routine in many theaters, sort of an anti-"A Christmas Carol," filled wth rude children, nasty grown-ups and an aura of commercialism covering it all like dust.
St. Louis actor Ben Watts does excellent work in the one-man show, directed by Gary F. Bell is well-focused style. Watts has Sedaris down pat, and his sometimes-nasty, sometimes-sweet reaction to his clients, or customers, is right-on. He also does excellent voice treatment of some of the Santas with whom he works, the parents, his associates and his bosses.
He points out that Satan is an anagram of Santa, and he actually has some sympathy for some of the children, but the parents and the commercialism of the store draw his ire, and some lovely sarcastic commentary.
His elf costume, designed by Nicole L. Willing, is a delight, and the 90-minute show breezes on Jay. V. Hall's nicely designed set, with candy on the backdrop, and a large, throne-style chair dominating the stage and reminding one of a similar chair at O'Connell's. The constant irony wears a little here and there, but it's good entertainment for the season as Sedaris reminds us about the creep of crass.
The Santaland Diaries, a production of Stray Dog Theatre, opened on Dec. 2 and will be on stage at Tower Grove Abbey through Dec. 17
— Joe