Menu
'Dashing Through the Snow' in bad Christmas sweaters
Special to the Daily Mail
In Tinsel, Texas, and more particularly at Trina Walcott's Snowflake Inn, it's Christmas 365 days a year. Such is the premise of "Dashing Through the Snow," the current production opening at 8 p.m., Friday, at the Fox Playhouse in Nevada.
Written by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope, and Jamie Wooten, and directed by Jane Ann Hancock, the play is four vignettes exploring and exposing the issues complicating Christmas in the lives of Snowflake Inn's bed and breakfast guests.
If Jed Clampett and Granny from "The Beverly Hillbillies" picked up the characters from "A Tuna Christmas" and booked rooms at the Snowflake, you would have an accurate barometer for this vehicle's comedic style. In fact, it's classic farce: buffoonery complete with ludicrously improbable plot lines, all of which provide a good laugh. It is delightfully light -- no hint of serious themes.
In fact, the two hours spent watching these players ham it up on stage was for me an excellent foil for a season already busy with social events and too much sugar.
First of all, the costuming in this play is deliciously awful. Prop Master Pete Schmidt uses spectacle to great effect throughout this performance. From elf outfits and heinous Christmas sweaters to frumpy bridesmaid dresses and hillbilly angel wings, each character sports attire so exaggerated, so outlandish that even the least fashion conscious among us will recognize extraordinarily bad taste. I enjoyed the play. The dialogue is clever, and the actors use it well; however, for me, the costuming was a true highlight.
Trina Walcott (Ricci Wood), the Inn owner, is the glue holding the four vignettes together. As the curtain opens, on Dec. 21, we see a rattled but collected Trina, wearing an abominable Christmas costume, deal with a petulant guest, Mr. Boykin (voice of Kenny Jones), and a frazzled employee, Lou Ida (voices of Gwen Jones and Alyx Hawkins).
Wood's character progression is especially good. A phone call in Act II, Scene 1 alerts Walcott that Mr. Boykin might not be who he claims, and when Wood grabs her rifle and heads for the stairs, I laughed out loud. When she returns in the final scene carrying a "for sale" sign, her hair in curlers and her clothes committing every possible fashion crime, the transformation from rattled, but patient, to cracked and crazed is complete.
Scene 1 belongs to Cuddles (Jeanette Hawkins) and Binky (Gary Hawkins), empty nesters whose sex lives revolve around role playing weekends in various towns and cities. They arrive at the Snowflake Inn as Mrs. Claus, checking in under the assumed name, Miss Blitzen, and her "god among elves," Binky, for an adulterous rendezvous, and discover that role-playing is not as good as old-fashioned romance in their own home. In my mind, Cuddles wins the prize for the most odious Christmas sweater in the play. And Binky -- that elf with a "crooked little nose" -- is in full elf gear from head to toe. The scene ends with the couple walking upstairs to spend a romantic night together. When in Tinsel, I suppose, what else is there to do?
The following morning, we meet Hoyt Ledford (Richard Daut) and his sister Donna Jo (Cassie Eador). Hoyt has selected the Snowflake as the place to end a 35-year feud between his aunts, Della (Traci Borders) and Ennis (Edi Gragg). This vignette is particularly good and has some of the best lines of the play. All four characters are strong and deliver lines with flourish. Hoyt is on a "mission" and claims that since Ennis and Della both love Christmas, "maybe they'll be on their best behavior and open their hearts to each other."
"Do the words 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' mean anything to you?" Donna Jo responds incredulously. "Two rabid old ladies trying to rip each other's hair out" is more like it.
Borders and Gragg are a hoot. This production is Borders' first at the Fox and one of many for Gragg. Their sparring is pure fun, and those costumes! Eww.
Scene 3, Dec. 23, I believe is my favorite, although they all are good. Two very egotistical actors in an ultra low-budget touring company, Ainsley (Mike Bessey) and Lenora (Eador) sneak into the Snowflake during the intermission of their own play to fulfill a long-time promise Ainsley made to a friend.
When Walcott catches them and admits to being a fan of the arts -- the last production she saw was "Julius Caesar" performed at the Livestock Pavilion (Seriously. There is no low to which this farce does not sink.), Ainsley and Lenora perform a one-minute version of "A Christmas Carol" to win her over. Hysterical.
Chaos ensues, including Ainsley's seduction of the stage manager, Paulette (Alyx Hawkins). I've seen Mike Bessey in other roles, but this one is best. His character is so pompous, so delightfully awful, and he's great pulling it off. Eador is a good foil, and the clever interweaving of lines from Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, and Oscar Wilde make this scene completely enjoyable. The promise is fulfilled, although not in the way it was planned, and Ainsley and Lenora make it back for their own Act II.
The final scene, Christmas Eve, opens with Twink (Borders) decorating the Inn for her sister's wedding. The bride, Honey Raye Futrelle (Bobbie Lou Barber) is to be married in 45 minutes for the sixth time. Barber hams up the "country strumpet" role to fine effect and is much more concerned with whether her nail polish and lipstick color clash than she is with the implications of six marriages. She wears red, bright red, complete with boa to the event. After all, she claims, "No white, not even beige, seems right this time."
Helping throw this Christmas wedding bash together are Honey Raye's other sisters, Frankie (Gragg), Rhonda Lynn (Candi Dahmer), and their friend, Raynerd (Bessey). With no time to prepare for a proper wedding, Twink has found vintage flea market gowns for the bridesmaids -- they are truly terrible, and Gragg especially exploits the comedic possibilities her purple and pink dress offer her. Raynerd, who is trying to learn his lines for the Christmas pageant, hasn't removed his costume for three days, adding a different kind of aroma to the buffet of chili cheese fries he's making for the wedding.
Bedlam again follows through a wedding that is on, off, and on again with another groom. While this scene is no Shakespearean vehicle, it is a really good spoof of comedies like "A Midsummer Night's Dream" where identities and relationships switch quickly but end well.
Christmas is a good time for light-hearted comedy, and this play fits the bill. Sponsored by Metz Banking Company, it will be performed the next two weekends: Dec. 5, 6, 12, and 13 at 8 p.m. and Sundays, Dec. 7 and 14 at 2 p.m. I encourage you to dig one of your abominable Christmas sweaters out of the back of your closet and join this raucous romp through its four days till Christmas antics. You'll be glad you did. You might just want to watch an old re-run of "The Beverly Hillbillies" when you get home.