B.F.E.: The Town That Christmas Forgot

Reviewed by Holly Bartges

In its unadulterated silliness, Rattlebrain Theatre returns hosted by The Avenue Theatre with sheer total unadulterated silliness in its world premiere of B.F.E: The Town That Christmas Forgot.

The cast of B.F.E.: The Town That Christmas Forgot.

With a silly simple plot, B.F.E. is a Dave Shirley silly fling. He wrote the book and lyrics with Jeff Kosloski engaging Mike O’Shea to write the music and Nick Sugar to choreograph.

In all actuality, the play should be called B.F.E: The Town that Forgot Christmas. They remember part of it. They remember the greed enough to rename Christmas Greed Day. B.F.E. deliberately forgets the reason behind the season. Small technicalities. B.F.E. does have words behind the Initials, but you’ll have to see the musical to find out what they stand for.

Simplistically silly, B.F.E. does indeed have a point revolving around greed dancing and singing with abandoned silliness.

Shirley with his own two silly hands also designed the set, lighting, sound, and in his spare time constructed the set and the props. Somehow Michael Emmitt with his creative edge slipped into the fray to complete the paint design.

B.F.E. has several things going for it: Shirley most definitely, live music, and a most talented cast who can act, sing and execute Sugar’s choreography with energy, fun, delight, and silliness, and grand comedic timing.

The musicians consist of O’Shea playing the piano, guitar, bass, tin whistle, percussion, horns, birds, and other random sounds. While O’Shea is busy plunking, plucking, blowing, and tweeting, Vince Jerez manages to sneak in with percussions of his own.

Frank Oden, through a recording, sets the scene as Lorne Green, the Narrator. Would that Oden could have been there himself in his comedic rubberized self, but then we’ll take Oden anyway we can get him.

Travis Risner takes on the role of Tyler, a traveling man who wanders into B.F.E. looking for directions. It’s December 24 and the cast attacks The Opening Song with clever gusto just because it’s a good time to break into a song and dance routine.

Kerstin Coldwell plays Lonnie, a doctor married to the Mayor whose shoes are filled by Emmitt with mayor-like aplomb. Liberty Gordon swings with loose glee as Elizabeth, the town’s Hooker. Red-headed Eric Mather plays Clive, the town’s Shoemaker with stylized broad strokes creating laughs all by himself. Jane Shirley plays Terry Bradshaw, and she makes the most of the built-in jokes.

December 24 becomes The Day “a stranger comes to our town.” Looking for a place to stay, Tyler, joins the exuberant cast with the song BFE. Directed to the Hotel Lawrence, the stranger meets owner, Joey humorously played by Kosloski. Joey and Terry claim to be a couple, sort of, so they say.

B.F.E. prides itself on having a real tree and real garlands instead of the man-made stuff.

For the Festival of Greed, they feature an Ass-Kicking contest. Baffled, Tyler inquires about Christmas, the time to give, but the town never heard of such a thing. That’s OK, Tyler will tell them.

During the song Greed, the characters poke fun at themselves singing “this song will go on too long,” and it does, but very funny in its too “long-ness.”

Terry senses something bad is about to happen and a secret meeting is called in the woods. There exists the sense Tyler must be evil and he must be burned, leading them to the song Fire. Cigarette lighters provide the flame. Clive’s doesn’t light. It’s difficult to tell if that was planned or if it just happened. If it just happened, it should be kept in the script. Mather’s antics spark richly with hilarity.

Misunderstandings, false assumptions and desperation shake the town. A secret room comes to light, and Tyler fishes with determination to find it, to unravel the mystery while Joey runs around with an ax to keep Christmas away from B.F.E. (and those initials stand for what?).

It turns out Elizabeth is not only the town Hooker, but also a witch calling for a séance. Aside from the choreography that sparks this play, (A little bit of Sugar makes the medicine go down), the funniest and best scene revolves around the séance with puppets as mediums and the characters becoming loose as a goose. I have to admit. I had to laugh, out loud.

In spite of its silliness, in spite of its thin plot, it is obvious the cast is having a blast with a no holes barred allowing the child in each of them to come out to play. They play hard, sing hard, dance hard through Joey’s song “I’m Sorry I Killed You,” Elizabeth’s song “Séance,” Terry and Tyler’s “Warm and Fuzzy,” and “The Love Song From B.F.E.”

There is absolutely no social redemptive reason to go see B.F.E.: The Town That Forgot Christmas except to laugh a lot, enjoy the frivolous antics of this talented group of people, hear some good songs with fun lyrics, and see some high-spirited Sugar-type choreography.

On the other hand, that’s reason enough. Go. Laugh. Play!