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ISBN 978-0-573-69805-7Listen to music samples of the score - see below!
Book by David Church and Jim Webber
Music and Lyrics by Joe Patrick Ward
Holiday Musical Comedy
7m, 6f
Simple Set
Judy Garland is primed for her biggest comeback ever - the dazzling star of her own TV special, broadcast live on Christmas Eve, 1959. Judy’s guests include Bing Crosby (making some holiday “grog”), Ethel Merman (plugging her Hawaiian album), and Liberace (with a handsome sailor in tow). However, mysterious snafus behind the scenes and cameo appearances by commie-baiting Vice President Richard Nixon (who performs a magic act) and blacklisted writer, Lillian Hellman, (who’s forced to read “Children’s Letter to Santa” with a puppet) throw Judy’s program off course. The surprises climax when the arrival of Joan Crawford is interrupted by the spectral figure of…Death. The evening takes a detour into the twilight zone as the celebrities are forced to confront the lies behind their legends. Devastated and alone, Judy meets a special fan who ultimately proves that, despite her flaws, her shining legacy still endures.
“Magical! A side-splitting musical parody…wickedly funny!” – Los Angeles Times
“Fascinating, hilarious and wildly entertaining!” – Gerard Alessandrini, Creator of Forbidden Broadway
“Wonderfully strange…a true holiday treat!” – Hollywood Reporter
“A non-stop hoot!” – Back Stage West
“Hilarious! A surreal snow globe highball; a Hollywood Christmas card from beyond the grave!” – Portland Mercury Terms quoted on application. Music available on rental. Listen to music samples of the score:
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1. Back in Christmas Town |
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2. Let's Share a Cup of Irish Cheer |
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3. The Candy Cane Twist |
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4. Mauna Loa Hula Holiday |
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5. Angel Star |
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6. Ever Been in Love? |
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7. Make It Shine |
Other materials available:
CD Cast Recording Character Descriptions:JUDY GARLAND – The beloved show business icon of The Wizard of Oz
and A Star Is Born. Judy is nervous and neurotic, but remains wildly
talented and is fully primed for her biggest comeback ever.
BING CROSBY – The avuncular but alcoholic crooner of “White Christmas,”
whose greatest triumphs are behind him – and he knows it.
LIBERACE – The flamboyant Las Vegas pianist who brought highbrow
music to lowbrow audiences. Lee is a smarmy mama’s boy who
masks the truth of his personal life with layers of camp.
ETHEL MERMAN – The bombastic Broadway star of Annie Get Your Gun
and Gypsy whose belting voice and brassy manner accentuate her
blunt ego.
RICHARD NIXON – A winner with flop sweat. The current Vice President
is conniving, fearful, strangely sympathetic and completely out of
place in this entertainment milieu.
LILLIAN HELLMAN – The chain-smoking playwright of The Little Foxes
who was blacklisted as a Communist during the McCarthy era.
Anger is both her tonic and her Achilles heel.
DEATH – All-knowing, immovable, forever. Death possesses the personality
that every performer fears most – that of a truly discerning critic.
JOAN CRAWFORD – Hollywood’s greatest self-made star who has gone
from ingénue to leading lady to caricature and now is barricaded
from reality as an ageless legend in her own mind.
SAILOR – Handsome, clean-cut, observant, empathetic, gay – and not
altogether who he appears to be.
DIRECTOR – An offstage voice. Focused and businesslike.
PUNCH – A goofy dragon hand-puppet.
ENSEMBLE – An attractive, effervescent quartet of two men and two
women.
Note: SAILOR and DEATH can double as PUNCH and the DIRECTOR (offstage voice).
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