by Mike Hoban
“A Nightmare on Elf Street” – Written by Ryan Landry; Directed by Kiki Samko; Sets by Windsor Newton; Costumes by Scott Martino; Lights by Michael Clark Wonson; Sound by Roger Moore and Tad McKittrick; Music Direction by Tim Lawton. Presented by Ryan Landry and the Gold Dust Orphans at MACHINE -1254 Boylston Street, Boston through December 23rd
There’s nothing quite like a slasher movie holiday musical to get you in the Christmas spirit – as long as it springs from the twisted minds of Ryan Landry and the Gold Dust Orphans. In keeping with tradition, Landry and Company again provide an antidote to traditional holiday fare with their annual warped take on the Christmas season with A Nightmare on Elf Street, a mashup of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and A Nightmare on Elm Street as well as other teen slasher flicks. This year’s offering continues the recent trend away from parodies of Yuletide classics such as 2012’s Rudolph the Red-Necked Reindeer and It’s a Horrible Life (2014), instead bringing back legendary drag detectives Shirley Holmes (Landry) and trusty sidekick Dr. Jodi Watley (Qya Marie), who first made their appearance in 2016’s Murder on the Polar Express. This time around the duo is summoned to solve the mystery of who is killing Santa’s teenage flight team at the Elf Street Academy.
In a fairly brilliant stroke, the Orphans begin this year’s show with a short film that gleefully captures the essence of the slasher genre (if it were directed by John Waters) to set up the backstory for the show. It’s 1979 and the teen reindeer are mercilessly picking on “fat boy” Rudolph (Tim Lawton) in the gym. After being scolded by the gym teacher, the teens head to the shower where the torture continues with a hilarious sendup of the tampon scene from Carrie. Led by popular hot girl/ringleader Velma Vixen (Scott Martino), the teens chase Rudolph out of the locker room and to the top floor of the school where he is pushed out a window to his death (?). The reindeer swear to secrecy about how it really happened, setting the stage for Rudolph’s revenge on the offspring of the children of the teens in 2018. Or does it?
The story shifts to the present with an imaginative opening song and dance number, a reworking of Alice Cooper’s “Welcome to My Nightmare,” and the insanity begins. The children of the 1979 kids are having violently disturbing dreams and dying in their sleep as a Freddy Krueger-esque figure slashes their innards, and Holmes and Watley are called in to stop the carnage and solve the case. What follows is what we’ve come to expect from Orphan’s shows over the last two decades – pop culture references spanning everything from Laverne and Shirley and the Honeymooners to Rihanna and Jaws; god-awful (but very funny) puns; smutty song and dance numbers; cheesy sight gags; and even puppets (the good kind) – but A Nightmare on Elf Street is Landry and the Orphans at their deranged best.
Like last year’s Whatever Happened to Baby Jesus? (the late Larry Coen’s final show), there’s a more structured feel to the insanity, despite an ending that doesn’t really resolve – a point which is built right into the script and matters little to the intent of the show, which is artfully delivered mindless fun. First-time director Kiki Samko (who also is a riot as the quasi-feminist Claire Cupid) makes sure the fast-paced action remains coherent so we don’t miss any of the rapid-fire jokes and gags, but there are still a few unscripted moments where the cast just loses it onstage and brings the audience along for the ride. The songs are especially good this year, including a killer rendition of “Heart’s (How Do I Get You) Alone?” by Taryn Lane (who plays good girl Dani Dancer) who shakes the rafters of the Dream World with her heartfelt interpretation. Scott Martino really outdoes himself with the insane costuming this year, including getups for the evil Krampus and Mrs. Claus (Dusty Moorehead) as well as his own Velma outfits. The same could be said for the set design of Windsor Newton, especially his Dream World, of which Holmes aptly observes, “It’s like Holyoke. It sounds innocent, but it’s just not safe.”
There was one sad note for the evening however. For fans of MACHINE, also affectionately known as The Ramrod Center for the Performing Arts, this will be the final Orphans Christmas show at the location, as the space was sold to a developer who will continue the “revitalization” of Fenway. There will also be one final Orphans show in the spring, Dr. Jeckyl & Miss Thing, but for longtime fans, this will be the end of an era for the institution. So if you’re looking for an alternative to the multitude of Christmas Carols, take a ride in Santa’s Slay with A Nightmare on Elf Street. For tickets and information, go to: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/producer/15425
