Reviewed by Tony Annicone
The second show of The Players season is William Gibson’s “The Butterfingers Angel, Mary & Joseph, Herod the Nut and the Slaughter of 12 Hit Carols in a Pear Tree” originally written for a church pageant. Hard to believe that he also was the author of the dramatic “The Miracle Worker.” An imaginative retelling of the Christmas story brings new relevance to its timeless subject. Gibson combines a series of short scenes, traditional Christmas music, antic characterizations into a wholly original theatre piece. It deals with the story of Joseph, Mary and the birth of Jesus in an off kilter point of view. The flow of the action follows the Biblical events, but is enhanced by a tree, a sheep and a donkey who talk. Gabriel is a klutzy apprentice angel facing a lay off if Gabriel messes up one more time. The angel is flustered most of the time. Mary is a feminist matchmaker who wasn’t interested in marriage or men while Joseph is a philosophy spouting wimp who proclaims he is too old for his intended. Herod is a drum beating nutcase who is the funniest one of the bunch. Director Vince Petronio picks 15 performers to play the various roles in this show.
The first act is where we meet all the characters but the second act seems to have more energetic performances than the first. We are greeted with several Christmas Carols interspersed during the action in Act 1 when Mary and Joseph finally get together urged on by the bumbling Angel. Leading this cast is Tylar Jahumpa as the Angel, Roger Lemelin as Joseph and Phoebe Brown as Mary. However the biggest scene stealer is Kevin Thibault as Herod. When he goes off his nut trying to find the new born King is when the show comes truly alive with his perfect antics. Andrea Hellman is also hilarious as a tree who can’t seem to say no when she’s being taunted by the Man in Gray played to the hilt by Eric Behr. The tree convinces the Angel to take her place and the Man in Gray explains how the tree will be used in the future which ties into the redemption of the world. The three Kings also have some clever shtick to perform and are well played by Megan Ruggerio, Mark Lima and Stephen Hug. So for an alternative to “A Christmas Carol”, see “The Butterfingers Angel” at the
Players.
ButterfingersAngel,Mary&Joseph,Herod the Nut and the Slaughter of 12 Hit Carols in a PearTree(30 Nov. to 9 Dec.)
The Players, Barker Playhouse, 400 Benefit Street, Providence, RI
1(401)273-0590 or www.playersri.org
