As some comics are called men with rubber faces, Christine Pedi could be described as "The Woman with a Thousand Voices." With her elastic varieties of vocal chords, she demonstrates an uncanny instinct to nail instantly the distinctive personal characteristics of the famous. In her Christmas show at the Laurie Beechman Theatre, Holly Jolly Christmas Folly, we not only enjoy a dazzling display of her talent for impersonation, but the real revelation of her show was her great individual skills as a uniquely talented singer when she sang in her own voice.

On the Laurie Beechman Theatre stage and ably supported by her longtime Music Director Matthew Ward, Pedi gave us a tour de force medley of holiday hymns as sung by Ethel Merman, Bette Davis, Cher, and a hysterically funny and definitive Liza Minnelli "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer," sung with all the "New York, New York" gestures! Pedi unearths a McGuire Sisters old holiday song, "The Christmas Alphabet" but gives us an updated series of lyrics, from some of her lyric-writing friends, with contemporary references and extremely funny in nature. She re-introduces us to another sweet Judy Garland Christmas song, one entitled "Merry Christmas," from In the Good Old Summertime, which blended into "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," as well as a novelty song about Santa introduced by Kay Starr, "The Man with the Bag" (Dudley Brooks, Harold Stanley and Irving Taylor) and, with a bow to Chicago, a version of "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" in an arrangement as if Roxie Hart were singing it!

Pedi’s next medley of impersonations includes a brief Rosie Perez singing "Carol of the Bells," Governor Sarah Palin, with special lyrics about shooting reindeer from a helicopter, and Judy Garland doing, full force, "Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel." Loveliest of all is Pedi’s singing in her natural voice, "Count Your Blessings," merged with a real find, Cy Coleman and Peggy Lee’s "Christmas Lullaby" (a song about angels). Pedi’s full comic sprit as an actress is unleashed in the Russian-accented "Vodka," as she mimes getting drunker and drunker and does Russian love dances with imaginary partners, shouting out different vodka brand names for each chorus! Her "The Perfect Year," a love song by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Don Black, and Christopher Hampton, sums up her Christmas wish that "if you are with me, next year will be a perfect year."

Last but not least: her take on "The 12 Days of Christmas," each day done as a separate diva chosen by audience members. On the night reviewed, we had in rapid succession Bette Davis, Katherine Hepburn, Joan Rivers, Judy Garland, Julie Andrews, Edith Bunker, Eartha Kitt (complete with purrs), Bernadette Peters, Patti LuPone, Angela Lansbury, Hillary Clinton (yes, Hillary Clinton with all her candidate gestures), Carol Channing and Barbra Streisand.

Pedi’s encore is a softly swinging sing-along with the Christmas perennial "White Christmas." There is no better act than Christine Pedi’s if you want to lift your spirits this season.

Christine Pedi’s Holly Jolly Christmas Folly! continues at the Laurie Beechman Theatre December 14, 15, 21, 22, 26, 27, 28, 29, and 30, all shows at 7 pm Tickets are $55 and must be ordered through Ticket Central (212) 279-4200 and there is no food/drink minimum.

Joe Regan, Jr.
Cabaret Scenes
December 8, 2008
www.cabaretscenes.org