Just imagine single-digit-aged Gina in her flannel jammies, wrapped in a patchwork quilt, sitting in front of a humming cathode ray tube television set, eagerly awaiting Kermit T. Frog to introduce Jim Henson’s latest puppeteering masterpiece.
I forgot all about that little girl… until I watched Open Stage’s rendition of “Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas.” As soon as this specific Gen-X memory unlocked my subconscious, I found myself singing and swaying along to songs I hadn’t heard or thought about in X# decades. I remembered every dang word. It felt like adjusting the TV’s rabbit ears to bring back every countrified variety show on my old four-channel TV, like the Barbara Mandrell Show and Hee-Haw.
Paul Williams wrote the music and lyrics, and Timothy Allen McDonald and Christopher Gattelli wrote the book based on the children’s book by Russell and Lillian Hogan. Jerry Juhl wrote the television script, “Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas,” which will forever live in the collective cultural memory as a Jim Henson classic, frozen in time after the master puppeteer’s passing in 1991.
Open Stage Director Stuart Landon brings us a story as familiar as cozy sweaters and hats topped with pompoms (Jacob Schlenker, costume designer). We peek inside a comfortably rustic Waterville community barn dance, complete with a slide from the hayloft and line dancing to Christmas music by an animated band already toe-tappin’ and a-pickin’ and a-strummin’ and a-thumpin’ (Brad Barkdoll, Adrienne Connaghan, Jon Godinez, Anthony Pieruccini). The setting’s time and place become a character in the story, with Open Stage actors playing Henson’s puppets as live people.
The simple but ironic plot could be lifted from an O. Henry short story. Emmet Otter (Isaac Austin) and Alice “Ma” Otter (Chris Krahulec) can’t afford to buy each other Christmas presents, so they sell their only two things of value to help them win money in a talent show. Austin and Krahulec regale the audience with the hilarious “The Bathing Suit That Grandma Otter Wore,” which is a laundry list of items repurposed from a bathing suit the size of a circus tent. Krahulec’s ballads, “When the River Meets the Sea” and “Our World,” both have a Grand Ole Opry-meets-gospel beauty about them. And their “Ain’t No Hole in the Washtub” is adorably delivered and [Insert Dad joke here] just good, clean fun.
Emmet finds new singing partners when he and his friends Charlie Muskrat (TJ Creedon), Harvey (Drew Patti), and Wendell Porcupine (Luke Rider) form a jug band, thumping and twanging their way through the rhythmic “Bar-B-Que” and “Brothers.” Kudos to Creedom for taking his character next level. Every time he voiced the pre-pubescent Charlie Muskrat character, he reached a dog-whistle frequency, with every line making me laugh no matter what he said.
The jug band’s competition, the Riverbottom Nightmare Band (Fred Lizard, Barkdoll; Howard Snake, Connaghan; Chuck Stoat, Godinez; Catfish, Michael Rodriguez; Stan Weasel, Jason Samarin) rocked out an eponymous title song, serving us “villains” without being too scary.
Throughout the talent show, Waterville’s townspeople take turns showing off their talents. Gretchen Fox (Patty Cole) sings opera. Marilyn Mink (Jasmine Graham) delivers a rousing burlesque performance snippet that allows this play to keep its G-rating. George Rabbit (Creedon) and Melissa Rabbit (Carly Lafferty) tippet-tap dance. Yancy (Bobby Downey) does whatever he does intentionally just a little off-key and un-funny, like a throwback to Fozzie Bear. (And because we are drawing lines between this show and actual Muppets, this reviewer would be those old men critics in the balcony, Statler and Waldorf.) And because every story needs a ghost, Pa Otter (Anthony M.C. Leukus) performs a tender and encouraging “Alice Keep Dreaming.”
By far, the cutest and most charming variety act of the entire production: the children’s squirrely puppet show (Bryce Carter, Nicholas Caton, Beckett Copus, Ian Dandrea, Annie Logan, Xavier Logan, Annika Nguyen, ZJ Park, Selena Swigart and Lucas Terry).
Props to the prop master (Beckey Arney) for fashioning a guitar from a cigar box, and for decorating a Christmas tree where I could almost smell that clumpy paste holding together the paper chains. Also, the contra dancing (choreographer, Zsuzsanna Smith) is energetic and familiar. If you are asked to participate, fifth-grade gym class memory unlocks here.
“Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas” is a family show under the parking garage in Waterville, so be sure to send your kids to Open Stage’s watering hole for their very own holiday mocktails. For those old enough to sip out of the jug, there’s a nostalgic themed merchandise selection tucked into the corner, just behind the ticket counter. Just as pleasing as the trip to Open Stage’s inviting space is the nostalgic trip awaiting you, rewinding your memories decades back through time.
Open Stage’s new annual tradition, “Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas,” runs Nov. 22 through Dec. 23. For more information and ticket sales, visit https://www.openstagehbg.com/shows/emmetotter.
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