L.A.’s most popular year-end comedy extravaganza since the year 2000, Santasia – A Holiday Comedy is back for even more December magic in 2019, making this year’s collection of wacky Benny Hill-like skits, SNL-ready videos, Broadway-parodying production numbers, nostalgic recollections of Christmases past, and a whole lot of drag (rated R-for-language and H-for-heart) even more of a must-see.

Co-writers Brandon Loeser, Shaun Loeser, and Lon Gowan are joined this year by Omar Heyward, Chey Kennedy, Rusty Locke, and Darren Mangler (who share “written by” credit), adding up to the most Santastic of Sevens.

Christmas-themed skits have the Three Wise Men arguing over whose gift is best for baby Jesus, a family torn asunder when Daddy inadvertently guesses what’s inside his Christmas gift box, Santa’s elves protesting the diversity-promoting arrival of an ogre in their toy-making midst, and a preteen boy informing Santa in no uncertain terms what it feels like to have your Christmas wish not come true (“I just think it’s fucked up when you don’t get a kid what he likes”) to the accompaniment of Dido’s “Thank You.”

Claymation soars again in “Penguins Don’t Fly,” whose South Pole hero tries out assorted ways to prove that he too can take to the skies; “Some Assembly Required,” which has a steadily more inebriated Dad attempting to put together a bicycle before Christmas morn; and “San Andreas Snowman,” whose Frosty-building tots find themselves at odds with the titular fault line.

Other filmed segment include a series of “PBS Pledge Drive” spots soliciting funds for public television’s “annual Santasia broadcasts” and an inspired parody of the CATS trailer everyone’s been ranting or raving about (retitled “Deer” for reasons that soon become clear).

Broadway buffs get treated to spoofs of Chicago (“Cell Block Tango” becomes “Snowbock Tango”), A Chorus Line (tiny tots make Christmas wishes in “A Santasia Line”), Hamilton (the title rap now sings the praises of Jolly Old Saint Nick), and “Les MiserElves,” featuring Santa and Jack Frost in Inspector Javert/Jean Valjean mode.

As for those in search of near-naked male flesh, a Full Monty takeoff (pun intended) has all seven Santasia “studs” doing their Chippendales best) to Tom Jones’s “You Can Leave Your Hat On.”

A certain Oscar winner makes a guest appearance in “Walken In A Winter Wonderland,” the Loeser brothers recreate a not-so-beloved family holiday tradition in the appropriately named “F!@#$ing Lights,” and on a more personal note, each Santasian waxes nostalgic about a childhood Christmas memory likely to evoke as many tears as chuckles.

There’s plenty of drag as well, with Santasian Brandon doing Benny Hill and Monty Python proudest as a pigtailed ragamuffin whose fondest wish for Christmas is an Easy-Bake Oven, a pregnant Virgin Mary who finds herself Jerry Springer’s latest unsuspecting victim, and a sultry nightclub chanteuse whose heart’s been broken too many times by a snowman named Frosty.

Last but not least, the evening’s grand finale has the entire cast going “Sledding” in the most inventively hilarious ride down the hill ever taken by man or sled.

Shaun Loeser once again directs Santasia with abundant holiday pizzazz in addition to designing the show’s Christmas-trees-and-lights-filled set, with assistant director-choreographer Tania Pearson-Loeser tailoring dance numbers to the cast’s not-quite-ready-for-Broadway feet.

Kudos go too to musical director/composer Stacey Quinealty for whipping the cast into vocal shape, to Wynn Zucchero for his lighting-design magic, to animator Michael Granberry for his equal parts nostalgic/hilarious animated Claymation shorts, and to the entire Santasia team for their many multi-tasking contributions to the evening’s hilarity.

Santasia – A Holiday Comedy is produced by the Loeser brothers and Pearson-Loeser. Gowan, Zucchero, and Andy Palmer are assistant producers. Zucchero is stage manager.

Celebrating twenty years of treating L.A. audiences to the holiday season’s most crowd-pleasing blend of comedy and heart, Santasia – A Holiday Comedy once again takes flight to hilarious new heights of Christmastime merriment.

Whitefire Theatre, 13500 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks.
www.santasia.com

–Steven Stanley
December 8, 2019

Tags: Los Angeles Theater Review, Whitefire Theatre