Arts Agenda - Christmas cheese

Offering everything but spiked eggnog, Dad’s Garage Theatre’s annual Christmas show Chick & Boozy’s Fun-Time Holiday Special fosters a genuinely festive atmosphere. Compared to the by-rote Scrooge shows and command-performance office parties, Chick’s looseness and irreverence can inspire an audience to make merry.
Chick continues the conceit of the past two years, as washed-up, Burt Reynolds wannabe Chick Starley (writer-director Chris Blair) hosts a variety show patterned after the campiest 1970s TV specials. This outing features all-new material, and Chick himself tends to take a back seat to his sidekick, Boozy the Imp (Lucky Yates), a wisecracking puppet akin to Froggy the Gremlin from the old “Andy’s Gang” TV series.
The “special” provides a stocking-load of songs, sketches and silliness, with surprise celebrity guests and dancing girls with the choreography of a burlesque water ballet. Highlights include “The Tricky Dog Show,” in which one of three performing pooches looks suspiciously bovine; a bed-time story about a Vampire Santa (Jim Davies); and trailers for Aaron Spelling’s new series, “North Pole.” A highlight is Mary Kraft’s pun-drunk fashion designer Didi Granger, showing off a new line of sweaters (mostly decorated with kittens and glitter) and uttering hilariously awful puns like, “Yule-tidy up the house in this ... ”
Taking a lot of inspiration from “Saturday Night Live,” Chick & Boozy can subsequently be hit or miss, with some of the players’ funny voices sounding second-hand from that show. But with an eager-to-please ensemble taking on everything from Cheap Trick tunes to Siegfried and Roy stunts, Chick & Boozy is good for as many giggles as a real variety show of the era would be
Chick & Boozy’s Fun-Time Holiday Special plays through Dec. 23 at Dad’s Garage Theatre Company, 280 Elizabeth St., with performances at 8 p.m. Thurs.-Sat. and 5 p.m. Sun. $15. 404-523-3141.






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