Review: 'CRAZY CHRISTMAS – A groundNUTCRACKER' is a fun mix of different acts

Celebrating Christmas with CRAZY CHRISTMAS! (Dream Academy)

Marcus Goh is a Singapore television scriptwriter. He’s also a Transformers enthusiast and avid pop culture scholar. He Tweets/Instagrams at Optimarcus and writes at marcusgohmarcusgoh.com. The views expressed are his own.

Duration: 90 minutes, no intermission

“CRAZY CHRISTMAS - A groundNUTCRACKER” is a Christmas-themed musical comedy that incorporates a wide selection of different acts. It features Selena Tan, Pam Oei, Denise Tan, Sebastian Tan, Judee Tan, Kumar, Petrina Kow, Karen Tan, Robin Goh, George Chan, Michaela Therese, Caleb Goh, and Vocaluptuous.

“CRAZY CHRISTMAS - A groundNUTCRACKER” is a highly entertaining performance that taps on the festive season that’s in the air. With its current affairs references and original acts, your funny bone is sure to get enough tickling during the performance. The only issue is with the audio system — Esplanade seems to have issues with their sound set up, given the frequency that the microphones cut out this time around.

Sebastian Tan as Santa Claus. (Dream Academy)

Highlights

Variety of subjects and performances

While most of the acts were musical numbers set to a Christmas theme, there were also other segments like stand up comedy, an a cappella act, and even a Star Wars homage! It’s this constant jump between unexpected subjects and acts that helps keep the entire performance fresh, and also ensures that the energy remains high throughout all 90 minutes.

Kumar

Of course, Kumar never fails to delight. While he didn’t have that much stage time, his irreverent jibes and snarky quips were wonderfully delivered — all in an elf costume, no less. And yes, there’s even a segment where he appears briefly in his signature drag, proving to us all that he still has it.

Retelling of The Nutcracker

The highlight of the whole show has to be Sebastian Tan’s retelling of The Nutcracker fairy tale, as the other cast members mime out the story as it’s told. It’s done in his Broadway Beng style, which adds a heaping dose of Singapore flavour and multi-cultural fun as the story plays out in an amusingly local context. The entire segment is both brilliant and original, and I’d love to see more fairytales told in a similar fashion in future.

The Dim Sum Dollies rocking it Star Wars style. (Dream Academy)

Letdowns

Slow start

The show does take a while to warm up, especially since there’s a hefty lot of preamble and explaining in the opening (which should have been reserved for the end). Thankfully, the pace quickly recovers after that, and the cast get into the groove of what they do best.

Lack of unity in the acts

Despite the refreshing number of different performances, it feels as if there were too many miscellaneous acts that didn’t add to the show. Focusing on the core cast would have helped in keeping the interest levels consistent, especially since there were some portions that felt dull in comparison to the main performers’ segments.

Kumar the elf. (Dream Academy)

If you’re in a Christmassy mood, “CRAZY CHRISTMAS - A groundNUTCRACKER” will definitely elevate that festive cheer and get you celebrating the holiday soon. Don’t forget to pick up a copy of their groundnut shaped souvenir programme too!

Should you watch this? Yes.

Dates: 10 Dec (Thu) – 19 Dec (Sat), 2014

Showtimes: Tue - Sat: 8pm, Sat & Sun: 3pm

Special Notes: They’ve just added a 19 Dec, 3pm show (in case the slot isn’t up yet on Sistic!)