CGMC’s Holiday Show Is A Hoot

By Julie Stern

DANBURY — White Hall, on the midtown campus of Western CT State University, was the venue for the first of this season’s playful romps, masquerading as a traditional holiday concert, by the Connecticut Gay Men’s Chorus. Entitled “Martha Stewart’s Big House Christmas,” the show is divided into two parts.

Act I is a showcase for some beautiful voices and intricate harmonies, a performance of more than a dozen Christmas melodies, ranging from such Muzak hits as “Jingle Bell Rock” and “Let it Snow” to moving arrangements of familiar carols like “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” and “Silent Night” and a haunting rendition of “Emmanuel.”

The company allows the music to speak for itself in this first half; the only sign of the group’s off the wall humor comes in the form of an appearance by the elaborately dressed Christmas Fairy, who flits about the front of the stage and teases the audience.

It is in Act II that the satirical side of the group comes to the fore. Dedicated entirely to Martha, it builds around musicals by Sondheim and Kander and Ebb, and features a hilarious impersonation of the gracious living expert by Tim McAdams. A recurrent motif, “The Trial of Martha Stewart” paraphrases the narrative of Sweeny Todd, and features an angry, trench-coated doyenne besieged by an army of reporters.

As she is finally taken off to her five month stay in federal prison, she is escorted by grinning deputies, singing John Denver’s “Country Roads” with the chorus altered to “Country Roads, take me back where I belong, Westport Connecticut, affluent people, Country Roads take me home.”

Kiss of the Spiderwoman is the source of a delightful “Cell Block Tango” in which Martha is given a preview of what awaits her, and, in a meeting of minds if not hearts, Martha teams with Leona Helmsley (Joe Evangelista) as they perform Cole Porter’s “Friendship.”

 Clearly, Martha’s place in the gay pantheon is not on a par with Judy Garland’s or Bette Midler’s. In fact, she does not come off as an admirable figure (hence the song “Bitch From Way Back,” in which her various underlings recall their sorest memories) and there is considerable amusement derived from the prospect of her prison stay.

If this offends you, then you probably won’t like the show. But otherwise it is a hoot!

(Performances of this year’s CGMC Holiday Concert will be offered Saturday, December 11, at The Shubert in New Haven; Sunday, December 12, at Stamford Center for the Arts; and Saturday, December 18, at The Bushnell in Hartford.

Call 800-644-CGMC (2462) or visit www.CTgmc.org for full details.)