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theater_review120If you don't like sweets, Santaland Diaries is your perfect holiday confection.

The play, by David Sedaris, chronicles his experience as an elf at Macy's Santaland. Sedaris debuted his Diaries on National Public Radio in 1992, and Joe Mantello adapted it into a one-man play in 1996.

This is not a children's show. Bring the kids to see the Nutcracker, or A Christmas Carol. Then find child care, have a hot toddy or a martini, and come to see Santaland Diaries.

Crumpet the Elf begins his job cheerfully, if a little cynically, but after experiencing the lunacy of holiday crowds, he begins to sling f-bombs around and eventually renames himself Blister. His tales of flooded bathrooms, momzillas, and Christmas racism, all the more weird for being true, bring a new perspective to the whole Santa thing.

In the Kitchen Theatre production, Karl Gregory reprises his 2005 role as Crumpet the Elf. Gregory, who performed at the Kitchen for many years, recently graduated with an MFA in Acting from the prestigious Brown University/Trinity Rep program. With the help of director Jesse Bush, Gregory's elf develops from calm amusement through mounting frustration to shrieking rage. The audience chortled, laughed, and finally howled at Crumpet's un-elflike antics.

Prancing around in costumer Lisa Boquist's green velvet tunic, pointy hat, and elf shoes, Gregory became the Compleat Elf, making his descent into profanity even funnier. However, his comic timing was sometimes undercut by his repeatedly following a quip with a giggle and a dismissive wave.

Norm Johnson's set, showing us the plywood backdrop behind Santa's throne, included dozens of wonderful backstage details: typed instructions, hand-scribbled notes, and lockers full of elf detritus.

Other than the obligatory twinkle lights, I had no sense of the stage lighting-which means that Max Doolittle had done his job well! Lesley Green found all the usual carols, plus, to my delight, a rendition of "Santa Baby," an Xmas torch song originally written for Eartha Kitt. In it, she asks for furs and jewels, breathlessly exhorting Santa to "hurry down the chimney tonight."

Hurry down to the Kitchen Theatre for a hilarious rendition of Santaland Diaries.

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