Christmas-themed comedy and music dominate Arts Club Theatre Company’s three stages this month.
“Elf: The Musical” is a hit at Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage, while the Mom’s the Word collective returns with laughs of their own in “Talkin’ Turkey,” on Granville Island. Elsewhere in Vancouver, The Gingerbread Men sing “A Holiday Cabaret” until Dec. 17 at the company’s Newmont Stage at BMO Theatre Centre, starring crooners Brennan Cuff, Brandyn Eddy, Jeremy Lowe and Jeffrey Victor.
The Mom’s show, which offers festive fun until Dec. 31, features collective members Jill Daum, Erla Faye Forsyth, Alison Kelly, Barbara Pollard, Deborah Williams and Colleen Winton in a comedy directed by Robin Nichol.
A remount of the 2022 production of “Talkin’ Turkey,” the actors show that the holidays are just as dysfunctional as they are jolly, from the gifts to the gab to the garb.
“As usual, the Moms tell the truth, the hilarious truth, and nothing but the embarrassing truth,” said Nichol, who starred in the show last December and directs this time.
“This show is for everyone who has ever had a hard time rising to the expectations of the Christmas season. You’re not alone, it’s OK to fail, and it’s absolutely imperative to laugh about it.”
CLICK HERE to watch a “Talkin’ Turkey” trailer.
The production celebrates the lasting success and legacy of Mom’s the Word Collective, who since the mid-1990s have shared “the good, the bad, the ugly, and the beautiful about motherhood – experiences I am now living firsthand,” according to Ashlie Corcoran, Arts Club artistic director.
“Through the decades, these brilliant women have hilariously and candidly shared what it means to rear small children, to live with teenagers, and finally to become empty-nesters,” added Corcoran, who grew up in the South Surrey/White Rock area.
In Surrey this season (2023-2024), the Arts Club’s touring productions kicked off in October with Mark Crawford’s sex farce “The Birds and the Bees” at Surrey Arts Centre’s Main Stage, followed in the new year by Beau Dixon’s music-filled “Beneath Springhill: The Maurice Ruddick Story” (Jan. 10-20) and Farren Timoteo’s hilarious “Made In Italy,” a coming-of-age musical about family, food and the life of Italian immigrants in rural Jasper, Alberta (Feb. 27 to March 9).
With music and lyrics by Rob Fortin and Susan Newman, the “Beneath Springhill” show is billed as “an inspiring Canadian story told through song” about African-Canadian Maurice Ruddick, trapped with fellow coal miners in the 1958 disaster in Springhill, Nova Scotia.
Jeremiah Sparks stars in this solo show, to be performed 12 times during its Surrey run, starting Wednesday, Jan. 10. In a Christmas promotion ending Dec. 26, Surrey Civic Theatres offers $15 off tickets in Zone A of the theatre with the promo code COAL on tickets.surrey.ca, or call 604-501-5566.
