Carly Sensi, Kylie Lavrenchik, Joan Gilliam, and Sasha Spitz in Winter Wonderettes
Both the year and the theatrical season are winding down for a long winter’s nap, and the Timber Lake Playhouse’s final production of 2024 could not offer a more pleasant nightcap. Directed and choreographed by Marquez Stewart, and featuring some surprisingly effective audience participation, Winter Wonderettes is a wonderful dose of theatre to fully get you in the spirit of the season.
Existing in an oddly specific subgenre of theatre, Winter Wonderettes takes a quartet of 1960s singers from another non-holiday themed show (in this case The Marvelous Wonderettes) whose talents are repurposed to deliver relentless yuletide cheer. Here, the framing device is not a high school prom, nor a class reunion, but a hardware store's holiday party. The group leader, Betty (Joan Gilliam), worked out a deal with the store's owner to get her and her friends a gig as the party entertainment. From there, things naturally go awry, and the Wonderettes are forced to improvise and keep the festivities going. The plot is paper-thin and merely an excuse for Christmas music from beginning to end. Mercifully, however, the book forgoes the weakness of its mother production and doesn’t throw out any interpersonal strife, or even any major conflicts.
In lieu of a traditional story, the audience only has the quartet's individual personalities to connect with. As the aforementioned group leader, Gilliam is fiery and imbues her role with powerhouse vocals. Her counterpart Cindy Lou (Sasha Spitz) is the saucy member of the group and frequently lets loose with lines that are a tad more than suggestive. My personal favorite Wonderette, Missy (Kylie Lavrenchik), makes plenty of ad libs (or delivers the lines so convincingly they feel off the cuff) and has a real knack for crowd work. And then there’s the perpetually pregnant Suzy (Carly Sensi), who’s married to the unseen, in-show lighting guy. The actual lighting design by Jack Goodman appropriately dims or flickers the lights whenever Suzy’s beau is mentioned, to remind the audience that he’s there and a world exists outside of the stage. Beyond the script-based gags, Goodman’s lights are multifaceted and complement the shifting tones nicely.
Other technical elements that deserve praise include Lily Tomasic's set design, which is expensive and adorned with period-appropriate details. Likewise, Thomas J.C. Gluodenis' costumes are stunning, and according to the preshow curtain speech, all made by hand. (Unfortunately, a couple of the wigs left much to be desired.) Stewart utilizes the expansive space remarkably well, with the action never growing stagnant or feeling confined. I was impressed by how intimate the setting felt, despite the grandiose width and height of the stage. The sound mixing by Sean McGinley and live music led by Ashley Grace Ryan were also sublime, and featured some of the best sound I’ve heard at Timber Lake so far.
Plus, on a personal note, this production actually taught me something about myself: I need to work on my Resting-Theatre Face, because Friday's opening night marked the second evening in a row in which I was pulled onstage for an audience-participation bit in a holiday-themed crowd-pleaser. That, or I need to sit much further away from the stage. Yes, your humble reviewer was pulled on stage and plopped in the middle of a musical number where he was asked to ring a broken bell every time the word “bell” was sung. Good thing the number was “Jingle Bells!” But if the thought of being pulled on stage fills you with dread, please, please, please don’t let that deter you from attending this production. All of the actors are fantastic with crowd work, and are incredibly supportive of the audience members asked to assist with the show. Even if you are pulled on stage, you are going to succeed, and the audience will cheer you on – all thanks to this marvelous quartet.
My favorite highlight of the evening was the performance of “Snowfall.” The “choreography” consisted of all the women performing the song in American Sign Language while singing, and it’s lovely. The number doesn’t feel phoned in, forced, or performative. It’s so simple, and I frankly wish there had been more bits like it throughout the rest of the evening (or at least a callback to it), as it was such a beautiful moment.
Given that I have so little to complain about, I must be overly sentimental as a result of the holidays. Though if I had to pick something, it would be what I can only assume is present within the script itself, as there's a prank played by the unseen hardware-store manager that in the moment is very funny, but on reflection is jaw-droppingly cruel. Oh, well! You’re probably not going to think about or reflect on this show; you’re going to hear good music and possibly drink some schnapps.
Winter Wonderettes is absolutely worth the drive and delivers wonderful theatre with fantastic vocals, legitimately charming crowd participation, and a refreshingly brief runtime. Those at Timber Lake should be proud of their latest effort, and you should make your reservations now for your own slice of Christmas cheer.
Winter Wonderettes runs at the Timber Lake Playhouse (8215 Black Oak Road, Mt. Carroll IL) through December 15, and more information and tickets are available by calling (815)244-2035 or visiting TimberLakePlayhouse.org.
