Review: Christmas roasted in the hysterical All I Want for Christmas is 700 Billion Dollars

November 23, 11:07 AMTwin Cities Performance Art ExaminerBrad Richason

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 Aside from the economic allusion in the title and a few brief quips during the performance, All I Want for Christmas is 700 Billion Dollars, the new holiday production from Brave New Workshop, puts politics on the shelf, focusing instead on satirizing the unique madness of the Yuletide. This is a production that hits close to home, exposing the charred underbelly of home fires smoldering with stressed cheer and forced merriment. Instead of seasonal depression, however, Brave New Workshop captures the absurd hilarity of our holiday dysfunction, evoking riotous laughter from all those frustrations that drive us to abuse the eggnog.

There’s the perplexing appeal of Yankee Candle Company, the self-loathing compulsion behind New Year’s resolutions, the benevolent passion of Christmas strippers, and the childlike devotion to Santa embodied by KARE-11’s weekend meteorologist, Sven Sundgaard. Nothing is safe from skewering on the Brave New Workshop stage. Part of the fun, actually, is the wonderfully eclectic range of topics brought out for satirizing. There’s an inspired madness in casting the rivalry of Santa’s two lead reindeer, Rudolph and Blittzen, as a Top Gun spoofing drama rife with sexual tension. Each sketch flows into the next with not a weak one amongst them to slacken the pace. By evening’s end my face was sore from unremitting laughter.

Collectively the cast members brings a manic energy to the performance, committing to each sketch with anarchic glee. Singling any one member out doesn't seem fair considering the ensemble chemistry, so I’ll just give an all-encompassing ovation to the entire cast of Lauren Anderson, Joe Bozic, Josh Eakright, Mike Fotis, Bobby Gardner, and Ellie Hino. Whether engaged in dramatic farce, synchronized dancing, or harmonizing on bleak Christmas Carols, each member of this remarkable cast resonates with subversive wit and performance daring.

From Martha Stewart television specials to Hallmark greeting card sentiments, commercialized consumer culture depicts an idealized Christmas towards which some will forever strive and fail. Brave New Workshop wisely recognizes that the defining traits of the holiday season are often the associated stresses and frustrations. All I Want for Christmas is 700 Billion Dollars does not mock the holidays, so much as celebrate the shortcomings. In doing so, the Brave New Workshop has created a production that allows us to appreciate the season not for what we want it to be, but for what it is: a transparent denial of familial derision and a cessation to the open hostilities of those we simultaneously love and loathe.