Emma Diehl is a Critical Insight fellow at Pittsburgh Public Theater, in partnership with American Theatre magazine.
By EMMA DIEHL
Ever wonder if the Grinch is well-endowed?
Pittsburgh CLO’s Who’s Holiday!, at the Greer Cabaret through December 29, 2024, answers the question.
If the above hypothetical offends your sensibilities, best to sit this performance out. Suited more for fans of raunchy comedy than Dr. Seuss, Who’s Holiday!, written by Matthew Lombardo, imagines Cindy Lou Who all grown up and drowning in spirits (and not the Christmas kind).
While it picks up decades after its source material, Who’s Holiday is closer to R-rated fanfic than the children’s book that inspired it.
for Pittsburgh CLO. (Image: kgtunney Photography)
Alone in her trailer on Christmas Day, Cindy Lou (Lara Hayhurst, reprising the role from last year’s inaugural PCLO run) recounts to the audience how she ended up alone as an adult, shunned by the Who community (or perhaps Who-munity) as she prepares to host a holiday gathering.
As familiar Seuss characters call with regrets and hasty excuses to flake, Cindy Lou falls deeper into despair, explaining why even Yertle the Turtle won’t come to celebrate Christmas with her.
This is due, in part, to getting knocked up by the Grinch soon after her 18th birthday. Those familiar with How the Grinch Stole Christmas will recall Cindy Lou’s first encountered the angry green guy when she was a little girl – a plot point the performance breezes over faster than you can say “grooming.”
Find that off-putting or offensive? Don’t worry; there’s another off-color joke just around the corner that might be more to your taste. To her credit, Hayhurst, under the direction of husband Trey Compton, gauges the audience’s reception of these bawdy jokes with grace, stretching out bits that work and speeding past the material that lands flat. Turning from cabaret crooner to bong-smoking burnout on a dime, Hayhurst shows off her comedic prowess across the nearly 90-minute performance.
Pittsburgh theater-goers may remember Hayhurst from, among many roles, the CLO/City Theatre collab An Untitled New Play By Justin Timberlake in 2021, or City’s POTUS last year, in a scene-stealing performance as the president’s well-meaning mistress with a filthy mouth. Hayhurst doesn’t have a chance to broaden her vocabulary in this role, but the multiple musical numbers sprinkled throughout the performance showcase her range. While those song-and-dance moments are welcome, they are few and far between.
At other times, her charisma feels hampered by the Seuss-ian rhyming scheme on which most of the show is built.
When there’s room for improvisation, Hayhurst grabs on. The show feels most engaging when Cindy Lou peers into the crowd, inviting an audience member up on stage or sharing Christmas cookies with the front row.
It was a fun and inclusive tip of the hat when Cindy Lou introduced the ASL interpreters to the audience, of course by asking them to get all of the sign swear words out of the way.
In a few delightful, off-the-cuff moments, Hayhurst broke character to joke with a vocal front-row audience member. I say a matinee performance, and I imagine these moments are even raunchier during the evening performances, when the audience has had considerably more holiday “cheer.”
But other moments fell flat for the nearly sold-out crowd, decked out in their ugliest holiday sweaters. A joke that addressed the untimely demise of the Grinch’s beloved pup, Max, was met with groans and gasps. “These are the jokes, people,” Cindy Lou reminded the crowd.
There is plenty of colorful, praise-worthy craft onstage: Cindy Lou may have been cast out of Whoville, but she doesn’t forget her roots, literally, with a gravity-defying hairdo courtesy of hair and makeup designer Travis D. Klinger. It’s a testament to Klinger’s skill that the complex hairstyle stays put while Cindy Lou bounds across the stage.
Thanks to costume designer Alexander Righetti, she also has a real knack for style. In a costume change early on, Cindy Lou sheds a delightfully tacky house dress in favor of a sparkly number worthy of Sabrina Carpenter‘s world tour. Speaking of sparkles, there’s plenty to go around in the set design by Bryce Cutler. Cindy Lou’s trailer has a host of surprises hidden among its holiday bric-a-brac, including a few props played for laughs. Blindingly tinsel-laden from top to bottom, the scenery creates a sense of holiday cheer the moment you enter the theater.
Ultimately, that holiday cheer wins over the audience. Despite Cindy Lou’s misfortunes and bawdy behavior, the performance ends with a heartfelt seasonal sing-along.
For this Grinch, however, the sugarplum-sweet chaser ultimately felt at odds with the crass concoction that preceded it.
TICKETS & DETAILS
Pittsburgh CLO’s production of Who’s Holiday!, at the Greer Cabaret through December 29, 2024. https://pittsburghclo.culturaldistrict.org/production/96364/whos-holiday
Categories: Arts and Ideas, Reviews
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