(L-R) Phil Olson, Therese Lentz, Doug Engalla, Emily Trempe and Mark Atha

 

        BY AMY LYONS

            It’s no surprise that the current run of A Don’t Hug Me Christmas Carol at

        Lonny Chapman Group Repertory Theatre has been extended several times.

        The sense of Christmas cheer that stems from the cozy, down-home musical

        comedy provides sweet respite from the frantic hustle and bustle of the shopping

        mall season.

                                                            ________________________

                                      In addition to playing

                                       the lead, Phil Olson

                                     also penned the script,

                                    creating a character that

                                     he plays to perfection.

                                                            _______________________

            Set on Christmas Eve in Bunyan Bay, Minnesota, the play tells the story of

        Gunner Johnson (Phil Olson), a Scrooge-like bar owner who wears holiday misery

        on his sleeve. Gunner mopes and barks his way through the play’s early scenes,

        revealing feelings of inadequacy connected to his apparent inability to impregnate

        his wife, Clara (Therese Lentz). Gunner’s inferiority complex is exacerbated when

        the conversation centers on Sven Yorgensen, a suave singer who occasionally blows

        through town and makes the ladies swoon.

            Unmoved by the kindness of his closest  chums, Kanute (Mark Atha) and Bernice

        (Rebekah Dunn, understudy), Gunner’s grouchiness gets increasingly worse until a last

        straw fight with Clara sends him speeding off on his snowmobile. He lands himself first

        in an ice-hole and then in a coma, launching a very Dickensian morality tale speckled

        with original songs backed up by the recorded instrumentation of an on-stage karaoke

        machine. As Gunner shuffles around the bar outfitted in a hospital gown and a gauzy

        head bandage, he initially doesn’t know why Clara and company ignore his presence.

        When Sven Yorgensen (Chris Winfield) shows up to play the part of his tour guide on

        the journey to Christmases past, present and future, Gunner begins to learn the lessons

        that motivate him to change his foul attitude.

            The show moves along at pitch-perfect pace, with a very healthy dose of musical numbers

        that keep things lively. The silly lyrics to songs like The Christmas Cheese Polka and

        What Would Barbara Streisand Do? are coupled with simple dance-steps choreographed

        to imitate the hokiest of ho-downs.

            In addition to playing the lead, Phil Olson also penned the script, creating a character that

        he plays to perfection. Olson injects Gunner with a maddening amount of self –pity, but he

        manages to also give the character enough oafish charm and likeability to inspire the audience

        to root for his metamorphosis.

            Rebekah Dunn dazzles as Bernice, a character whose girlish appeal and unexpected sexiness

        keeps Kanute and the audience smitten with her. Dunn has a sparkling energy that she uses to

        fill every on-stage moment, whether she is singing, dancing, rollerskating or chirping out her

        end of any conversation. Dunn also gets to play a version of Tiny Tim (a part she plays on

        bended knees) that inspires sheer giggles from the crowd.

            Winfield is well cast in the role of the Casanova chick-magnet who smoothly tempts both

        Clara and Bernice with his lover-boy ways. He woos while hilariously commenting on his

        character’s over sized ego.

        Runs through January 27 at the Lonny Chapman Group Repertory Theatre, Fridays and

        Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. For tickets, call (818) 700-4878 or visit www.lcgrt.com.