A divorced couple set madcap hijinks in motion by pretending their split never happened in Ken Levine’s On The Farce Day Of Christmas, not just a wild and wacky comedic ride but a tasty treat for those seeking something fresh and new for the holidays.

The exes in question are Gary (Brian O’Sullivan) and Wendy (Melissa Brandzel), the latter of whom has forked over $5000 to her former hubby to ensure that things go smoothly during this year’s Christmas visit to Utah, where Wendy’s highly religious mother Maggie (Cindy Shields) has remained unhappily married to Frank (Shields’ real-life spouse Perry) for the past thirty-plus years, no matter that in Maggie’s own word, “I’ve been in hell for the last fifteen.”

Complicating things further is the fact that Wendy has started seeing someone new, a man so devoted to his new girlfriend that he calls her twenty times a day, phone chats that might prove problematic should Mom overhear her daughter talking to someone she calls “Sweetheart,” and one glance at the program suggests that boyfriend Chip (Jonathan Keyes) just might show up sometime before curtain calls.

A more immediate problem is the unexpected arrival of Wendy’s blonde bombshell of a high school bff Karen (Maire Rose), whose considerable curves seem bound to serve as catnip to a randy ex-husband like Gary and an even randier ex-father-in-law like Frank.

Oh, and did I mention that despite Wendy’s conviction that Gary cheated on her while on an out-of-town business trip, an accusation that Gary still vehemently denies, she is still hopelessly in love with him?

With a set-up like this, it’s no wonder On The Farce Day Of Christmas delivers punch line after punch line, a skill playwright Levine honed while scripting such sitcom classics as M*A*S*H, Frasier, and Cheers, series that scored Levine six Emmy nominations, one of which resulted in a 1983 win for Cheers (not to mention seven Writers Guild Award nominations, two of them scoring wins during the same prolific time period).

It helps enormously that Little Fish Theatre treasures James Rice and Amanda Karr have directed On The Farce Day Of Christmas with abundant pizzazz, guaranteeing pitch-perfect comedic timing and physical comedy galore throughout the show.

It helps too that Little Fish has assembled the most fabulous of casts to deliver the abovementioned one-liners, beginning with the couldn’t-be-more-divine Cindy Shields, who imbues Maggie with such bubbly, cuddly joie-de-vivre, I was immediately smitten, and it’s great fun seeing Shield’s real-life hubby Perry playing incorrigible party-pooper Frank, that is until his daughter’s voluptuous high school bestie shows up to rev up his long dormant male libido.

The equally terrific Brandzel and O’Sullivan give Wendy and Gary the kind of opposites-attract chemistry that had audiences longing for Tom and Meg to overcome their mutual antipathy in You’ve Got Mail, with the hunky O’Sullivan earning bonus points for the most physical of comedic shtick on both air mattress and couch.

Rose positively sizzles as a woman of curvature whose full-body undulations suggest someone in a near constant state of low-grade orgasm.

Last but not least, Little Fish newcomer Keyes plays it comparatively straight as befits a character who finds himself a fish out of water amongst a sea of crazies.

Christopher Beyries’ homey, decorated-for-the-holidays Midwest living room set, Diana Mann’s just-right costumes (special snaps for Maggie’s countdown-to-Christmas apron), and set decorator Joyce Hutter’s holiday-themed props are vibrantly lit by James Callaghan, with sound designer Robert Black underscoring the farcical shenanigans with Christmas classics aplenty.

Alexa Wolfe is stage manager. Jen Albert is intimacy coordinator.

From its outlandish setup to its abundance pf physical comedy to its dozens upon dozens of guaranteed laughs, On The Farce Day Of Christmas delivers the comedic goods and then some. It’s the funniest (and funnest) show in town.

Little Fish Theatre, 777 Centre St. San Pedro.
www.littlefishtheatre.org

–Steven Stanley
December 17, 2023
Photos: Miguel Elliot

Tags: Ken Levine, Little Fish Theatre, Los Angeles Theater Review