The Toronto Theatre Review: Predictable Holiday Rom-Com: The Musical at Second City Toronto

By Ross

The new Christmas show, Predictable Holiday Rom-Com: The Musical, may arrive wrapped in the sparkly and sugarplum fairy clichés of every Hallmark and Lifetime Christmas movie ever made, but, to my great surprise, what’s inside that gift box is far more delightful than the title suggests. I expected a broad spoof, centered on a one-note narrative, but what I unwrapped was a far more lovingly crafted, frequently hilarious musical that winks at its audience while genuinely embracing the big-vocal, holiday spirit it pokes fun at. It’s a tricky balance, as parody and sincerity rarely hold hands gracefully. But luckily for us all, director George Reinblatt (book and lyrics) and Suzy Wilde (music, with Reinblatt) manage the whole Christmas spirit thing with a smart light touch, a wide grin, and a surprisingly big Saint Nick heart.

The plot is intentionally predictable. The big-city magazine writer, Holly, returns to her small town home, bumps into Mark, a single dad, and inevitably helps save the failing Christmas tree lot owned by Holly’s much-ignored Uncle Nick (Jonathan Shaboo), all while quickly falling in love with the handsome man she will, I guess, spend a lifetime with. Or so says the rules of this Christmas town and these types of stories.

It’s the most basic gingerbread cookie cut-out plot line around, and we’ve seen it packaged and shipped out on those cable networks over and over again with different cutout casting. But that predictability becomes the candy cane fuel for the comedy. Reinblatt and Wilde layer in seventeen vocally impressive original songs that knowingly riff on just about every Christmas tune lodged permanently in our cultural memory. And they’re really good songs: catchy, cheeky, and performed with a vocal polish you don’t always expect from a parody musical. Several numbers even had that Little Shop of Horrors magic, brilliantly blending camp, charm, and sharp musicality while giving performers plenty of room to glisten and shine.

What makes the show so engaging is its commitment to the bit, especially in the loving hands of its two leads, both decked out in full ugly-Christmas-sweater glory (superb costuming by Carlyn Ranusaar Routledge). Tess Barao (PEI’s Anne and Gilbert) as Holly and Tenaj Williams (Citadel’s The Color Purple) as Mark shine inside every song and gag, working the material like magnificent pros with great pipes. The wonderfully talented cast, which also includes A. Braatz, Barbara Johnston, and Nikki Brianne Samonte, brings such clever energy and precision to the stage that even the most over-the-top tropes feel fresh again. Much of that polish is thanks to music director Anika Johnson (MSC/OtM’s Dr. Silver), who keeps the score tight and vocally sharp, and to choreographer Kendra Brophy (Stranger Sings…), whose playful staging threads the needle between parody and genuine musical-theatre joy. Add in the solid, smart contributions of set and props designer Meredith Wolting (Shifting Ground’s Ride the Cyclone), lighting designer Gareth Crew (Eldritch’s Macbeth: A Tale Told by an Idiot), and sound designer Michael Laird (Factory’s Trojan Girls…), and the whole production hums with a professional sparkle that amplifies the comedy rather than overwhelming it. You feel the entire team having fun with the material, and that spirit becomes infectious.

The only fault to be found is simply that the show runs a tad longer than it really needs to be. A tight ninety minutes would likely have preserved its momentum more cleanly and kept us singing its Christmas praises until the actual day. But even when the pacing slows the show down slightly, the charm doesn’t. The production remains consistently entertaining, buoyed by its stellar musical invention and by the cast’s ability to sell every wink, grin, and melodramatic moment with full-hearted enthusiasm.

Like the actual fantasy holiday it pokes its finger at, Predictable Holiday Rom-Com: The Musical delivers exactly what it promises, and a whole lot more. It’s festive, funny, tuneful, and unabashedly joyful, a cheerful Canadian-made syrupy send-up that never sneers at the genre it lampoons. And with another brand-new Christmas spoof, the upcoming The Unauthorized Hallmark(ish) Parody Musical, waiting in the wings for me later this month, I can honestly say this one sets a surprisingly high bar for holiday silliness done right. It’s a festive romp that knows exactly what it’s doing and executes it with real skill. Predictable? Absolutely. But in this case, that’s half the joke, and all of the charm.