Spice up Your Holiday with an Evening out with a Racy Lady

 

          Rember Cindy Lou Who, the little girl from Whoville who caught the Grinch stealing her gifts, food and Christmas tree?

          Well, she’s middle aged now, unhappily married to the Grinch, has a disgruntled daughter, Patty, who inherited her father’s green skin color and has quite a story to tell.

          You can catch up on all of Cindy Lou’s past history this December simply by sitting through a performance of “Who’s Holiday!,” now playing at the Greer Cabaret Theater in Downtown Pittsburgh. Like Dr. Seuss, the author of the book, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” playwright, Matthew Lombardo wrote his narrative in verse.

Everything rhymes. Or does it? There are a few episodes where the rhyming word in a particular stanza would be one your mother would wash your mouth out with soap if you uttered it. That being so, Lombardo replaces it with some completely sanitized and bowdlerized word. For example, when the word in question might rhyme with punt, Lombardo replaces it with something like, say, football. All along, you can figure out the intended word, most likely something vulgar or smutty, simply from the context of the line.

PCLO Whos Holiday Lara Hayhurst Credit: kgtunney Photography.

Keeping this in mind as well as the fact that the lone actor sometimes pushes the parameters of sexual propriety more than just a tad, you’d be right if you guessed the play is described as unsuitable for children under the age of 17.

Carrying the weight of the one-character show on her capable shoulders is Lara Hayhurst, last seen as Dusty in City Theatre’s production of “POTUS,” a madcap play in which she plays one of seven madcap characters. Obviously, her talent was diffused among that of six other females on stage, but in “Who’s Christmas!” she’s the real deal, the star at the top of the tree.

PCLO Whos Holiday Lara Hayhurst Credit: kgtunney Photography.

I can’t imagine anyone doing a better job with the role and, believe me, I tried.  I fancied a number of actresses and comediennes in the role, but the glass slipper just didn’t fit any of their feet as well as it fit Hayhurst’s.

A bundle of energy and a sexy blond with an unabashed stage presence, Hayhurst lights up the stage even more than Bryce Cutler’s brilliantly colorful rendition of Cindy Lou’s cozy trailer home.

Bouncing around the set in Christmas-y colorful, leg-revealing outfits designed by Alexander Righetti, she never stays put in one place for long or with the same mood for that matter that ping pongs between lighthearted and playful to serene and sober and everything in between.

PCLO Whos Holiday Lara Hayhurst Credit: kgtunney Photography.

Her laugh lines are right on and plentiful and, even when telling darker moments of her story, there’s a comic undertow that keeps things locked in a festive holiday spirit. For instance, even when telling of her first encounter with a prison cell mate, a butch, burly and brawny Amazon, things are kept from spiraling down into dread and disquietude with her perky, if not impish, insouciance.

The playwright gratuitously throws in a bit of audience interaction (one guy up front was singled out a number of times during the Cindy Lou ballyhoo), so be prepared to squirm a bit if the spotlight falls on you.

The play opens with Cindy Lou preparing for a party. When the doorbell rings, she responds to the call only to be pummeled with snowballs by some neighboring kids. Licking her wounds and changing into a dryer but even more dazzling outfit, she begins getting a series of phone calls from her invited guests who come up with excuses for not being able to attend.

Left alone, she begins her narrative of her complicated relationship and fascination with the grinch and subsequent downward spiral, all the time maintaining a cheery, never say die attitude that’s contagious.

Director Trey Compton sees to it that the 90-minute, season-themed romp of comedy, song, dance and storytelling never grows stale, but keeps it on a balanced, even keel with an infectious rhythm. She’s aided by some inventive projections by Bryce Cutler.

Just when you think it’s time to put out the lights and call it a night, the play takes an unexpected turn that lights up the emotions and bubbles over with holiday cheer.

It’s a turn of events that transforms a Bah Humbug feeling into a God Bless Us Everyone, a veritable jingling of bells and an invigorating ride in a one-horse open sleigh.

Pittsburgh CLO’s “Who’s Holiday!” is at the Greer Cabaret Theater. Through December 22.  For tickets and more information, go to www.pittsburghclo.org.