Theatergoers would be wise to take note of the bright red sweater that a character in “The Great American Trailer Park Musical” sports. In bedazzled script, it reads: “NAUGHTY.”
Consider that a celebratory declaration but also a caveat to the profane and merry mischief to follow.
Composer and lyricist David Nehls (a local light) and writer Betsy Kelso return to the North Florida double-wide community of their show, “The Great American Trailer Park.” That musical was a hit for Miners Alley Playhouse earlier in the year. This new work christens Golden’s gem of a cultural space, the Miners Alley Performing Arts Center. It runs through New Year’s Eve.
Betty (Julia Tobey), Lin (Preston “P-Jay” Adams) and Pickles (Jenna Molls Reyes), along with Rufus Jeter (Nick Rigg Johnson), are hoping to break the Armadillo Acres’ Christmas Curse by winning the “Mobile Homes & Gardens” prize for best-decorated trailer park.
They have their work cut out for them. As the show opens, the stage captures the challenge. On one side there are twinkling lights strung, a Coors Light menorah’s aglow, a wee tree half tinseled with a mud-flap gal sitting at its apex and a trailer festooned with all manner of holiday treasure. There’s even a light-up Baby JC.
Across the way from this trailer, which belongs to Rufus, is an abode markedly short on the festive. Soon enough, the trailer’s owner makes her entrance.
And how.
Darlene Seward (Leiney Rigg) hates Christmas and doesn’t much care for the fools who embrace it. Launching into “Christmas Is for Dummies,” Rigg has a voice as big and true as Darlene’s rancor for her neighbors and their pathetic traditions is robust. Not only is Darlene prickly, she’s also coarse. If f-bombs were lumps of coal, she’d be mining a productive shaft in West Virginia. It’s going to be tough to win a contest, let alone break a curse, with Darlene around.
And then comes a Christmas miracle. Let’s not spoil how — because it was a delightfully silly surprise — but Darlene undergoes an unexpected transformation. She becomes the season’s biggest fan, which leads to a series of quandaries. Will she and Rufus kindle the spark they seem to have (“Christmas Memories”)? Will this new Darlene stick around at least through the “Twelve Days of Amnesia,” er Christmas? And will we learn the origins of her antipathy for the holiday? (“My Christmas Tin Toy Boy” and “Christmas Leather Love”).
A flashback introduces Darlene’s long-ago love, Hank (a very funny Tobey). What’s a Christmas tale without ghosts — past, recent past, present or motorcycle-riding?
When Darlene’s current beau arrives, chances of a joyous holiday plummet. Damon Guerrasio portrays Jackie Boudreaux, the oil-slick owner of a pancake house called “Stacks.” Think Hooters or Twin Peaks and you’ll have a good sense of what he’s selling. But just in case there’s any confusion, Jackie serenades his waitresses with a dirty ditty, “Baby, I’ll Be Your Santa Claus.” He’s not worthy of the new Darlene, but the old one, well.
Borrowing generously from other holiday tales of transformation, creators Nehls and Kelso, as well as director Piper Arpan and the production’s gifted cast, know what they’re doing. Tobey keeps things moving as the savvy and fourth-wall-breaking Betty. Reyes brings a nice chirp to exhausted single-mom Pickles. Adams’ voice goes deep and wide as the widowed Lin (short for Linoleum), whose husband’s ashes she keeps close to her … heart. And Rigg charms as the hapless Rufus, particularly in the gin-soaked, hangdog tune “Black and Blue Christmas Eve.”
“The Great American Trailer Park Christmas Musical” teases with the familiar and then tarts it up with adult winks and nods. (“This show is rated R for adult content,” the Miners Alley website makes clear.)
The production itself is bright and gaudy, thanks to Xander Claypool’s scenic design and Steffani Day’s costumes (Darlene’s midriff denim vest is especially what-the-heck impressive).
This is the season of the tried and true, of course. “The Nutcracker” and “A Christmas Carol” have been packing them in. Earlier in the month, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance and Su Teatro served up the holiday spirit with go-tos “Granny Dances to a Holiday Drum” and “Miracle at Tepeyac.”
But there’s also a bit of counter-programming afoot. “Yippee Ki Yay” at the Garner Galleria Theatre is putting forth the argument that the action flick “Die Hard” is indeed one of the great Christmas movies. The sketch comedy revue “Santa’s Big Red Sack” — the name says it all — is celebrating its 20th anniversary (at the People’s Building in Aurora).
Truth be told, these shows, along with “Great American Trailer Park Christmas Musical,” aren’t exactly counter to the spirit of the season. Instead, they’re examples of their creators giving “nice” a bit of a breather and seeing how naughty they can be and still deliver seasonal lessons. How far you’re willing to go for those lessons is a matter of one’s taste in spiked egg nog.
It’s no surprise, then, that not unlike their community’s namesake mammal, the denizens of Armadillo Acres have their armor but also their soft underbellies. There’s a moral in that.
Lisa Kennedy is a freelance writer based in Denver who specializes in film and theater.
IF YOU GO
“The Great American Trailer Park Christmas Musical”: Music and lyrics by David Nehls. Book by Betsy Kelso. Directed by Piper Arpan. Featuring Leiney Rigg, Julia Tobey, Nick Rigg Johnson, Preston “P-Jay” Adams, Damon Guerrasio, and Jenna Moll Reyes. At Miners Alley Performing Arts Center, 1100 Miners Alley, Golden, through Dec. 31. For tickets and info: minersalley.com or 303-935-3044
