Mid-Life Christmas
One could glean from the title of Mid-Life Christmas, Go Comedy!’s third annual holiday sketch show, that the well of holiday-themed content may be drying up at Southeast Michigan's preeminent improv theater. But based on the razor-sharp humor and screaming breakneck energy of director Pj Jacokes and his ensemble, one would be wrong. Indeed, this is a tightly packed and wildly varying show with not a misstep in sight.
From the outset, an army of characters hurtles across and around the stage, portrayed by a half dozen performers. As suggested by the title, the bloom is off the rose for many of these Christmases; life’s little disappointments and missed expectations are somehow magnified at the holidays, a theme that pervades these hilariously awkward sketches (written by Jacokes and cast). As newlyweds, Jen Hansen and Tommy Simon keep the conflict amicably realistic as they negotiate shared holiday time between their two families. Bryan Lark lends an undercurrent of maliciousness to a composer putting his distinctive spin on a famous Christmas tune. In the longest post-layoff elevator ride ever, Christa Coulter and Chris DiAngelo use much more than words to maximize their excruciating discomfort. And the Christmas Eve Macy’s dressing room is ground zero for Carrie Hall, who enacts the mother of all pubescent humiliations with perfect physical comedy.
The cast shows prowess in all-play scenes as well, such as their recurring visits with one family’s traditions over several decades, and an evident fascination with the various programming of a plucky local Michigan TV station. Yet among the laughs and individual moments is an incredible sense of connection; even the smallest joke or reference is recalled and grounded elsewhere in the show. The confidence exhibited by Jacokes and company in fractioning scenes and characters into what amounts to a kaleidoscope of rapid-fire piecemeal comedy pays off in callbacks and references that will amaze the attentive viewer. Numerous quick and layered sketches flow thanks to efficiently choreographed scene changes; Michelle LeRoy’s lighting design changes on a dime to capitalize on the adaptability of designer Tommy Leroy’s hint-of-yuletide setting.
Also moving the action along is exceptional sound design by Pete Jacokes, whose Christmas playlist I would pit against anyone’s for both depth and breadth; in addition to smashing through incidental music and supplemental cues, his best work is in a frantic time-passing montage that works exactly as it should. The ninety-minute production also features a superb original composition by Ryan Parmenter, a colossal number that encapsulates the show so effortlessly, one wonders if they didn’t begin with the song and work backward.
Much like its predecessors, Mid-Life Christmas ranks among Go Comedy!’s finest scripted work of the year. The show makes the most of its underlying themes to provide a skewed perspective on the season that never stoops to sanctimony. In commendable composition and purely riotous moments both, the production reminds the viewer of the astounding potential of sketch comedy as it spreads its bawdy, unconventional, sweet holiday mischief.
December 1, 2011