Ohio Shakespeare Festival’s ‘Every Christmas Story…’ is yuletide gold

Photo By Scott Custer

As the lights come up on the Henry C. Bishop stage on the sixth floor of the Greystone Hall at 103 S. High Street in Akron, Ohio we are welcomed by Tess Burgler in full Ebeneezer mode and who with a knowing nod to the audience begins... “Marley was dead…”. When suddenly out of the wings comes Natalie Steen dressed head to toe as the deceased character loudly protesting her role. “I simply cannot do this!”, she moans. Tess on the other hand is dead set on doing this timeless classic simply because it is “TRADITION!”.

Enter Ryan Zarecki in Ghost of Christmas Past garb with the deciding vote. Natalie and Ryan promise to do an abbreviated “Carol” if Tess will allow them to do an audience inspired “Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some)”. Tess reluctantly agrees and with scant props but a lot of chutzpah the trio dives right in for two hours of rollicking ribald Christmas twists.

Over the course of the show and with the encouragement of the audience favorite holiday memories are paraded out for our enjoyment including the Norelco (and Lady Norelco) famous animated Christmas ad, one-liners from “A Christmas Story”, “Home Alone”, full reenactments of “The Grinch That Stole Christmas” with an audience member filling in for Cindy Lou, “A Charlie Brown Christmas”, “Gustov, the Green Nose Reindog or Reingoat depending on who you ask”, the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade held during a 60 miles per hour wind storm along with Christmas traditions from around the world (some of which are rather dark and sinister methods for getting children to behave). Brief mention is also made of various mid-winter celebrations including Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. Other X-mas parodies include Frosty the Snowman, Love Actually, O. Henry’s “Gift Of The Magi”, a fruitcake homage game show with audience guest and an appearance of a Ghost Buster size Ginger Bread Man complete with an oversize Christmas ornaments toss and all of this is just Act I.

After a short intermission the hilarity continues with a mish-mash production of “Christmas Carol” and “It’s A Wonderful Life”. As Ryan and Natalie attempt to shoe horn their favorite lines during Tess’s dramatic attempts. The show concludes with the singing of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” but instead of the traditional version a list of really bad gifts suggested by the audience from a list gathered during intermission are inserted.

The three perpetrators of this fast paced Christmas themed farce (Tess Burgler, Natalie Steen and Ryan Zarecki) are fantastic not only in their line delivery but their physical comedy and facial expressions. The timing is impeccable and the silly props (Ryan Zarecki and Marty LaConte) and costumes (Kelsey Tomlinson and Marty LaConte) perfectly fit. The show is expertly directed by Geoff Knox. Buddy Taylor handles the brilliant lighting design with Tess Burgler doing the sound design. Natalie Steen designed the expansive stage set.

Sometimes “we need a little silly” during the craziness that is the winter holidays. This show is a perfect tonic as we are bombarded at light speed with every holiday reference known to man and beast. This show dazzles with sparkling improv and truly funny situations.

Ohio Shakespeare Festival’s “Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some)” will be on the Henry C. Bishop stage on the sixth floor of the Greystone Hall at 103 S. High Street in Akron, Ohio through December 28, 2025. For more information and tickets go to https://www.ohioshakespearefestival.com/ or call (330) 574-2537.