Directed by Jerry Russell

CAST:

Bradley Campbell as Gunner Johnson
Lana K. Hoover as Clara Johnson
Mary Jerome-Autrey as Bernice Lundstrom
Randy Pearlman as Kanute Gunderson
Jim Johnson as Sven Yorgenson

Reviewed by Ray Gestaut, Associate Theatre Critic for
John Garcia's THE COLUMN

_________________A DON'T HUG ME CHRISTMAS CAROL_________________

Do you know what lutefisk is? Do you have a friend named "Sven"? Do you love the
Minnesota Vikings (not the football team)? Yumping Yimmity! If you answered
yes, to any of these, run don't walk to see Stage West's downright inspired
production of A Don't Hug Me Christmas Carol.

This is a good hearted and at times brilliant musical comedy written by Paul and
Phil Olson, and set in the deep snow of Northern Minnesota.

Gunner Johnson, owner of the Bunyan, the bar the play is set in is bummed out
this year. His business is failing, and he's facing the paunch of middle age,
childless and broke. He can't get into the Christmas spirit as his wife (Clara)
and friends (Kanute Gunderson, a leaching non paying customer friend and Bernice
Lundstrom an ex waitress who stops in to try and get her old job back) decorate
the bar for the holidays. Disgusted with their holiday hooey, he jumps on his
snowmobile for a spin around the lake, falls into a hole in the ice, goes into a
coma, and then play really starts.

In his comatose dream Gunner is visited by his slick ex partner, Sven Yorgenson,
who once dated his wife and conned him out of all his money. Sven serves as
Gunner's trip guide taking him through Christmases past, present and future..

Gunner is never in too serious danger of really dying in fact he comes home the
next day, and the play is never in serious danger of getting heavy. Its solid
laughs front to back with no down side.

A Don't Hug Me Christmas Carol is the holiday offering in the series of Don't
Hug Me plays by Phil and Paul Olson, denizens and lovers of northern Minnesota.
Both are very successful guys in other fields- Phil who writes the book is an
MBA and has a long career in business.
Paul who writes the music is an MD who heads up a nephrology wing of a major
hospital, and is president of the American Kidney Association!

Far from starving playwrights, the Olsons write with love, heart and soul for
their snowy part of the world and the people in it. Phil writes the book, while
Paul inserts the songs he writes with ingenious texture and variety throughout
the show. Together they create perfectly logical and hysterical lunacy that kept
Saturday night's audience in stitches from the opening song to curtain call..

Although the real theme of the show is fun, it is not just a Minnesota
Hootenanny. The play's sense of humor is much more wicked and at times even
darkly able to laugh at itself without ever even using one bad word. The music
supports the book and vice versa.

Audiences are usually in very good hands when Jerry Russell directs. Founder of
Stage West 30 years ago, he handles this one with surgical precession and an
energetic cast able to fill the evening with lively pacing and rich theatrical
choices. The dances range from simple box steps to more complex line dancing
steps and unison twirls. Yes, there are even some crazy hip hop moves and baton
twirls to add to the fun.

Bradley Campbell (Gunner Johnson) keeps being in a coma light with constant
brashness and humor. Booming in with a big voice and a big resume, Campbell is
just about perfect.

Lana K. Hoover (Clara Johnson) has some great moments as the wife with comedic
choices that are all her own. Her instrument is on the dainty side. And her
pipes aren't as loud as her fellow cast members, but when she's not being
overpowered, she fills out harmonies beautifully and dances well.

Jim Johnson is side splitting as Sven Yorgenson the rich guy who used to date
Gunner's wife and shows up as the one and only ghost in Gunner's coma. While
staying handsome and cool, Johnson manages to make his character as dumb and
vulnerable as everyone else. His beguine number had me really laughing and that
takes a lot. Mr. Johnson is an actor whose worked hard to scratch out a decent
pro resume in this region and I respect that. I hope to see more of him around
town.

Mary Jerome-Autrey as Bernice Lundstrom is a natural beauty and a true triple
threat. I feel like she could do anything on stage- from her girl-next-door type
numbers to her solo number, I'd rather be Naughty (Don't worry parents, it
wasn't that naughty), she dominates her space. A relative new comer to the pro
stage, the sky's the limit for this one. Remember her name.

Randy Pearlman as Kanute Gunderson frankly steals the show in terms of musical
scope and likeability. The score seems too easy for him, but at the same time
this frees him up to connect with his audience, putting us in his hip pocket
while he takes us for a crazy ride through the snow country. A big man who can
really dance, he reminds me of Jackie Gleason in that respect, though by the end
of this run in January, with all his dancing, he might look more like Art
Carney!

If you've ever been north you'll recognize the Jim Covault/Lynn Lovett
set as a Minnesota beer bar in every detail. Rare knickknacks, old time
decorations, wow, even beer mug light bulbs, (thanks largely to production-stage
manager Peggy Kruger-O'Brien; she's the best in the business). There's even a
futuristic looking karaoke machine that I expected to take on a life of its own,
and which plays an important role in the play.

OK-I'm pulling duty as a critic here, so let me nit pick a little. First, there
was a flat spot in act one when Kanute announces Gunner's
accident. Clara supposedly goes into shock, but that important point isn't made
clear with her back to us.

After the broad almost indicative front and center clarity of the events leading
up to this moment- this sudden vagueness left the audience confused about what
had happened. The sudden silences on stage made you wonder if some one had
forgotten their lines, thus we had to adjust to this new circumstance of Gunner
almost all by ourselves. Maybe a broader choice would have been for Clara to
face us so that we could register her shock more clearly -or maybe we needed a
more unified ensemble reaction to Gunner's bad news.

One opening night surprise was that a mounted canoe oar fell off the wall, which
could have been a bad knock on the head for somebody-but the cast ran with it
like an improv company making it one of the funniest moments of the night.
Don't you love it when accidental stuff like that happens in theatre?...as long
as no one gets hurt.

As I mentioned earlier the bar's karaoke machine is very important to this show
as it provides all the music the characters sing to. This music comes in the
form of a premixed soundtrack provided to the theatre upon booking the show..
It's rigid and un-adjustable and the singer's voices have to fit into the
confines of this soundtrack. Now, this soundtrack is geared to standard
theatrical voice ranges (soprano, alto, tenor, bass).

Singers whose voices fit into these traditional ranges, such as Pearlman,
Autrey, and Campbell have no trouble with it. But someone like Jim Johnson who
is first an actor and only secondly a singer can have problems. Mr. Johnson is
neither a true baritone nor a true bass range, and gravels and grasps to hit the
low notes over and over again. If you take your voice down to your lowest note,
you'll find you also lose power and volume.

Conversely, Lana K. Hoover who plays Clara has occasional tonality problems as
she switches from chest to head and back voice, even slipping into a falsetto at
one point, but nobody can do much about these problems at this point and the fun
of the show rolls right over any technical difficulties. Me, I love actors and
everything they do. If there's an error, I chalk it up to human-ness. The
theatre is alive, living! – Not like watching TV.

Family and holiday themed shows foot the bill for the edgy, riskier shows
theatres do during the regular season. Forget your troubles for a night, grab
any kid along about 15 years old or so (younger ones might not get it. This
isn't children's theatre nor catered to kids in any way), and go support a great
show at Stage West.

Reviewed by Ray Gestaut, Associate Theatre Critic for
John Garcia's THE COLUMN

___________________________________________________________________

A Don't Hug Me Christmas Carol
Stage West

Performed Thursday-Sunday through January 17, 2010.

Box Office 817-STG-WEST (817-784-9378) TIX are about $30 with some discounts and
diner included options available.