It’s Christmas Eve, and Mr. Broadbent, a developer and builder, has invited prospective buyers, Fred and Gladys McNicoll, to spend the holidays in “THE HOUSE OF THE FUTURE”, in the hopes that the “spirit of the season” will close the deal. He has pulled out all the stops. The house is totally decorated for the holidays, he’s hired a personal chef, Sue Johnson, to prepare a gourmet dinner, and he has even bribed two members of his staff, Casey Cody and Ben Adams, to pose as a married couple, who are renting the house, so they can extol its virtues and explain how everything works.
HOWEVER…that’s the problem, nothing does. The self-cleaning bathroom, central trash disposal units, automatic closets, hidden telephones and his masterpiece, “The Personal Ion Chamber,” all have some serious glitches. But Broadbent has all the bases covered. He’s even hired his maintenance man, Eddie Cott, to be on hand behind the scenes, to make running repairs as necessary.
It should be a “Miracle on 34th Street” fairy tale, but this is a Parker farce. Gladys hears Casey refer to Mr. Cott by name. She quickly recovers by stating she didn’t say Mr. Cott, but “Miss Turcotte, the children’s nanny.” Now, Eddie, must spend the rest of the play as “Nanny Turcotte.” Mr. Brooks arrives unexpectedly, as his car has broken down in the snow. Unfortunately, it turns out he is Casey’s future father-in-law. So now, Casey switches roles with Sue, but only when Mr. Brooks is around. Unknown to Casey, Mr. Brooks takes an almost insane liking to “Nanny”, much to the disdain of the straight laced Gladys, who insists, “Mr. Brooks, no sex please, it’s Christmas.” Mr. Brooks however, will not be put off, and Nanny now has to defend ‘her’ honor all the while trying to fix the gadgets that keep misbehaving.
Will hen-pecked Fred and overbearing Gladys sign the contract, or will the Christmas Eve shenanigans ruin Broadbent’s dream of off-loading this huge “White Elephant?” This “Naughty but Nice” Christmas play will have you ho-ho-ho’ing till the very end!