Tuesday, December 13, 2011

"A Molly Jolly Christmas" - A Comic Christmas Treat

Review by Byrne Harrison
Dancing Molly photo by Laura Turley
Molly and presents photo by Ron Lasko

Molly "Equality" Dykeman is a slightly bewildered, pill-popping, mullet-sporting, Cheetos-munching, lesbian security guard/poet, who wants nothing more than to put on a Christmas show to remember, full of leggy, stacked dancers and hot, downtown performers.  The results are a cringe-inducing train wreck.

While that could be the kiss of death for most shows, it is exactly what A Molly Jolly Christmas is supposed to be.  Molly is the wacky and delightful creation of Andrea Alton, the talented actress and comic, who has been performing as her alter-ego for several years now and most recently kicked some downtown ass in The F*cking World According to Molly at FringeNYC.  She also performs as Molly throughout the city at events as diverse as Butch Burlesque and Will Clark's Porno Bingo.

A Molly Jolly Christmas is an absolute riot.  Molly is in rare form as she performs her poetry (a good deal of her poetic style can be inferred from just the title of her first poem: "I Wanna Fuck Meredith Baxter Birney," which is, amazingly, the least offensive of her poems), dances with her leggy dancers, the Mollettes (Victoria Smalc and Meliza Fernandez), and introduces her guest stars.  And, oh my, the guest stars.  While the line-up changes for each performance, her show on Friday, December 9th, included a flamenco dancer/comedian (Inma Heredia), a Lady Gaga impersonator (Athena Reich), a twitchy monologist (Allen Warnock) who performed a dramatic reading from "Gremlins," and The World Famous *BOB*, the amazing burlesque star whose take on "Hard Candy Christmas" from Best Little Whorehouse left the crowd speechless.  Upcoming shows will feature performance artist Shelly Mars, singer/actor/former porn god Colton Ford, burlesque star Vicky Sin, actress Victoria Libertore, and Village Voice columnist and man-about-town, Michael Musto.

In between acts, Molly reminisces about her childhood, reads her Christmas letter to Jesus (she's a little unclear on the whole concept), and dances.  That's right, dances.  Watching Molly and her Mollettes perform "Xanadu" (choreographed by the terrific John Paolillo) is worth the price of admission.

If you're tired of the sugar-plum, treacly Christmas shows that abound this time of year, but you still want something with a good heart and plenty of Christmas spirit, A Molly Jolly Christmas is the show to see.

A Molly Jolly Christmas
Written and performed by Andrea Alton
Directed by Mark Finley
Choreography by John Paolillo

December 6, 9, 13 and 22 at 7:30 PM
The Laurie Beechman Theatre
407 W. 42nd St (at 9th Avenue) in the West Bank Cafe

Tickets: $18 (plus a $15 food/drink minimum)
http://www.spincyclenyc.com/

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