Staying in Town? New Plays Open This Winter Break

As New York transforms its ordinary sights and sounds into the twinkling lights and ornate window displays, so too does the city’s theater scene prepare for the holiday season. While most of us will be home for winter break, free from the library’s call during exam time, the theater will be here for those who remain in town.

Several off-kilter plays opening soon reflect the impending holiday by twisting it into comically ironic dimensions, thus offering audiences a change from the traditional. A Very Nosedive Christmas Carol (opens Dec. 9) alters Dickens’ holiday classic so that the four spirits who visit Ebenezer Scrooge contemplate killing him rather than aiding in his evolution of moral character. Also opening on Dec. 9 is the similarly unconventional but political All I Want for Christmas, the wacky story of three friends who receive this country’s president as a Christmas present. Both productions poke fun at the impending holiday, a glibness not often associated with the season.

Aside from this rash of season specific plays, several other productions are opening in which the roles of strong, complex women and issues concerning women are key elements. Fat Pig, (in previews now, opens Dec. 15) is the newest work by playwright Neil LaBute, author of The Shape of the Things, a revival of which opens Dec. 8. Issues of beauty and body image are focused on as Tom, (Jeremy Piven, HBO’s Entourage), falls in love with a smart, funny woman who is also overweight. Piven’s character must decide whether to commit to a relationship or go along with his friends’ horrifying notions that fat people are unworthy pigs. Rounding out the cast of the production are Keri Russell (Felicity) and Andrew McCarthy (Brat Pack-er turned theater actor) who play Piven’s shallow friends.

Following in the theme of bodily image, Pieces (of Ass) opens Dec. 10 at the newly opened Dodger Stages. In a style similar to Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues, the production consists of a series of monologues which explore the problems of being a beautiful woman in a male society. Though some criticize its lack of depth, Pieces contains moving moments dealing with rape and female camaraderie.

While Broadway faces a sting of closings this season (including 42nd Street and Golda’s Balcony close on Jan. 2), Little Women starts previews Dec. 7 at the Virginia Theater. A musical adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s beloved novel, the production tells the classic story of sisters Jo, Meg, Beth, and Amy March growing up in New England during the Civil War. The show, directed by Susan H. Schulman (The Secret Garden and The Sound of Music) stars Tony Award-winning Sutton Foster (Thoroughly Modern Millie) as Jo March and the songstress Maureen McGovern as Marmee. Perhaps in an effort to focus on the strength and complexity of these women, the production team hopes to avoid sappy sentimentality and instead heighten the sheer emotional aspects of the story, which relates the ecstatic highs and tragic lows of the March family.

Continuing in this trend of novel-to-play adaptations, a version of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein opens Dec. 11 at The Flying Machine. Frankenstein features innovative music, movement, and stage design to give the classic tale new dimension. An adapted version of Kafka’s The Trial opens Dec. 17 and should contain the story’s original themes of withheld knowledge, suspense, and power. Garcia Lorca’s masterpiece The House of Bernarda Alba, which previews Jan. 8 at the Pearl Theater, tells the tragic tale of familial, social, and political oppression in Spain during the country’s Civil War. After her husband’s death, Bernarda both mentally and physically imprisons her five daughters under the traditional rules of mourning.

Finally, if the cold and possibly dreary weather becomes too much during this winter break in the city, the opening of Good Vibrations (Dec. 20) on Broadway should temporarily soothe any mental stress. Set to music by Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys, this production follows the odyssey of a group of East Coast teenagers to the beaches of California. Light-hearted fun is the overriding theme of this new musical and it rounds out the selection of theater options which await those who remain in New York City over the holiday break.

From women’s issues to novels to Christmas craziness, the new year’s theater is rich with possibilities.