This past Wednesday, Candace and I went to see the stage adaptation of David Sedaris' SantaLand Diaries at the local Horizon Theatre. Other than knowing Dave is a big fan of Sedaris' work, I wasn't really sure what to expect from this play, but I'm really glad I went, as it was quite funny. The story is essentially a humorous retelling of Sedaris' real-life experience working as an elf at the New York Macy's' SantaLand, which he portrays as a seriously desperate (and somewhat pathetic) move in response to his then-overwhelming unemployment (of course he no longer has this problem). From what I understand, the play is often put on as an extended monologue, but this production involved two other cast members to help in showing the interactivity between Sedaris' character and those mall patrons/employees he comes in contact with.
The material was all updated a bit, throwing in plenty of pop culture references and modern slang (the original essay was written in 1992) including things like Guitar Hero, iPods, Hannah Montana, and the song "1, 2 Step" by Ciara and Missy Elliot. The main character (Sedaris himself) was portrayed here as extremely flamboyant throughout (especially in his interactions with one male audience member), but the other two cast members changed characters almost every time they came on stage, so as to portray the wide variety of patrons the actual SantaLand would have attracted. Although the show ends with a rather touching moment, most of it is very over-the-top, politically incorrect, and overtly sexual. At times I was afraid some of the older people in the audience might be insulted, but the crowd was generally REALLY into it (too much so?), so I'm guessing this probably wasn't a big issue.
So, although I didn't laugh really hard at all (save perhaps a scene where Sedaris wonders what SantaLand would be like were Santa actually to be code for "Satan"), the whole production was really clever, somewhat shocking, and always chuckle-worthy. I definitely recommend seeing it, as it was most certainly one of the best plays I've seen in a long time.
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2 comments:
you can listen to sedaris read a lot of it on this episode of this american life:
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=47
i'd be curious to see how the play deviates from his own telling, which is pretty stellar.
Checked out a lot of the clip, and noticed a few things:
1. the play, although containing virtually everything in the essay, adds a lot of asides too (and possibly some perspective not intended by Sedaris himself)
2. Sedaris in the play was MUCH more flamboyant than Sedaris is in real life. Much more emotive and snarky.
3. Maybe this is because I'm not really aware of Sedaris' work and his manner of speaking, but the play was most certainly funnier. Sedaris on the reading is very dry, so much so that to the first-time listener it's a bit hard to say if he finds all this amusing or just intriguing.
Likewise (to your comment), I would be curious to see what you thought of the production I saw...
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