This Is The Week That Is

                                                      Patsy ( Jen Childs ) on her stoop

1812 Productions, Philadelphia’s only All Comedy Theatre Company, is presenting its annual political satire This Is The Week That Is  at Plays and Players Theatre, 1714 Delancey Place, through December 31, 2022. The extremely talented 7-member ensemble cast is composed of both veterans and new members, all of whom have demonstrated talent in singing, dancing, writing, and being outrageously funny. Jennifer Childs is the head writer; Sean Close heads the news desk and Pax Ressler is the music director when not performing. Benson Thomas, Jackie Soro, Lexi Thammavong, and Robyn Unger round out the cast, all of whom open the show with banter back and forth about why 2022 is not an ”idyllic” year. A humorous sketch follows: Biden in Jeopardy which has 3 ages of Biden competing for the correct answers. The audience roars at the final jeopardy question “Where is Kamala?”

This is the 17^th year for this production, and it is one of the freshest and most clever that I have ever seen. ( I have seen all but the  initial one. ) Instead of bringing audience members up to the stage and perhaps embarrassing them, this year all audience members are asked to answer a brief survey and place their answers in a box. Cast members later take a few of the papers, call out the audience member's name and comment on what is written or compose songs on the spot incorporating the information. The audience members can be embarrassed right in the comfort of their own seats!

Perhaps the most original part of the evening was four Christmas songs vying for most popular: “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus,” “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer,” “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” and “Frosty the Snowman.”  The first was represented by a Santa; the second by a woman in a nightgown using a walker to gets around; the third was dressed in brown fur with a red nose and the fourth had a hat, a carrot nose, and two branches for arms. An audience vote was taken between the first two and Santa won. In the contest between the next two, Frosty won. It was announced that the audience would get a chance to vote between Frosty and Santa in the second Act. 

The Philadelphia take on the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy is excellent. The little girl rejects a nutcracker and instead happily takes a “Gritty “ doll to bed with her and dreams of a life-sized Gritty who dances with her.

Unexpectedly a negative ad is projected onto one of the three screens. Two legs are shown. “Is this what you want your children to see? VOTE NO for I saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.”

The Second Act determines the winner of the favorite Christmas song, has all of the up-to date news and of course, Patsy from her stoop on Schunk  Street.

If you have seen This Is The Week That Is before, you will probably be thinking about seeing it this year. If you are hesitating, don’t, because this year the show is fabulous. If you have never seen it, you must. You won’t be sorry. For more information or tickets, visit 1812productions.org.