This time last holiday season, the Albuquerque Little Theatre produced “White Christmas,” selling out houses throughout its run.
So, with dollar signs in its eyes, ALT decided to do the show again.
The cast was asked to return, and those who didn’t were replaced with whomever they happened to find, producing a sad shadow of last year’s lucrative production.
With $24 a head for the general tickets (or a generous $18 student ticket), this is money-grubbing of the first order.
But let’s face it: This is not a show for students looking for something new or exciting. It’s for Albuquerque blue-hairs with too much money looking for something wholesome to do with their holidays.
As normal, the live band makes the production better than what it could have been.
This, however, doesn’t stop the band from sucking rather loudly. An atrocious trumpet drowned out other band members, and the drummers couldn’t keep a beat.
Hopefully it was an off night.
Unfortunately, this seems to be the norm for the rest of the show. The acting, with few exceptions, is flat and lifeless. Deliveries are forced and lack energy, and most of the replacements seem to be desperate picks rather than conscious choices.
The play stars, as the conflicted romantic leads, Jeff Pierce, Emily Melville and Dehron Foster’s mustache. Its soapy story is taken from a 1954 Bing Crosby classic that ought to bring you that fresh Christmas warmth, should you be able to stand the self-indulgent length of the dance numbers.
That said, as is normal with ALT, the chorus is more talented than the leads. This act is unfortunate, because they take up such a burden of the show but get to fade into anonymity with the rest of their fellows.
Some talent remains.
Thank God Hugh Witemeyer decided to return with his miniscule, show-stealing part as “Ezekiel” the groundskeeper. Larry Aguilar plays the other male lead and is a constant breath of fresh air among the rest.
And even in the midst of the chorus, Lissette Carter’s small roles outshine everyone around her.
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“White Christmas” is simple and slow, but not short. The first act alone pushed two hours, though this was helped by a long-winded, multi-person curtain speech, begging for more money. This is a community theater standard, but ALT already has the old people around its little finger, and this aggressive of a shakedown is embarrassing.
ALT is an old establishment, with building upkeep costs outclassing most of Albuquerque’s theaters. And it’s not like ALT hasn’t had its bouts with bankruptcy.
Students, this show is not for you. And nothing can be said that will affect this sold-out production’s bottom line and make ALT bring it back for round three.
