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Santa Claus is Coming Out 6th @ Penn Theatre Did you ever have one of those days when you just knew someone or something was knocking on your inner door? Strolling in North Embarcadero Park with my Boston Terrier this breath-deep-and-long Sunday morning, I spotted the bench where I use to come to meditate on a regular basis. Kelly, my ever-steady canine companion, and I would sit very still and watch the activity on the lawn, in the trees, along the paths, and upon the water. This life-enhancing habit of ours caved in when I returned to work after a lengthy hiatus. Specific joys readily available only to the city-dweller in this specific city suddenly became time-consuming and wasteful. This particularly sparkling Sunday, however, I sat on "our bench" while Kelly sat at my feet. A young Asian woman strolled by with a pre-schooler and just recently upright toddler. The baby, securely latched hand in hand with the woman, waddled unflinchingly within a foot of Kelly's crumpled face. Seemingly wary of that same face, the preschooler clung to the far side of the woman. They didn't stop. The trio maintained their steady pace and, as quickly, as they had become a part of our day, they were gone. Two kids on scooters sharply pulled up just before reaching our bench. kelly heard them coming and pulled on his leash while barking his protest at their intrusion. The youngsters got off their scooters and, without a word passing between us, walked their scooters by. Next, a tall thin man approached us, his obvious entree to discussion being Kelly's recent outburst and his laid-back attitude after they had gone. He said something about scooters, rollerblades, and skateboards which had never occurred to me. Kelly sees and hears them coming more intensely than I do. He is closer to the ground and his hearing is far more acute than mine. Though these facts should have been obvious, I had never connected them to Kelly's reality and how different it is from my own. The stranger went on to say that he had just recently had to get rid of his bird, but that he wasn't going to get rid of his cat. He had had to sell his yellow cockateil because he was "moving", but there was no way he could give up his cat. Kelly reminded him of his cat -- good attitude. He had called his yellow cockateil "Tweety" and his black-and-white cat, Sylvester. He continued by saying that he didn't know how they - he and his girlfriend - were going to keep Sylvester! safe. . .in a box. . . on a leash? They had just joined the homeless. No, he didn't ask for money nor make any overtures that implied I should help them out. He could have just as easily have said they were joining the peace corps. He didn't look nor act homeless, so I surmised that this was a new experience for him. I wondered how long it would be before he might have to beg? His leaving was cordial and easy. All I could think about afterward was this was the year that I would volunteer at one of the shelters to serve Thanksgiving dinner. The "story" would have stopped there and never have been expressed here had I not made a reservation to see "Santa Claus Is Coming Out" at 6th @ Penn Theatre that afternoon. Half expecting that I would cancel the reservation or, worse yet, just be a "no show", my experiences in the park led me to the decision that I really needed to go to the play. And, the prologue stops here. "Santa Claus is Coming Out" is the brain-child of the very gifted writer and actor, Jeffrey Solomon. In solo performance, Mr. Solomon becomes a young boy, a young best-friend Afro-American girl, the boy's mother and father, Santa's endorsement-mongering media agent, a homophobic elf foreman, R.R.N.R. (Rudolph, silly!), an actress hired to be Mrs. Claus a la Gloria Swanson in "Sunset Boulevard", Giovanni Geppedo as the opera-singing decendant of Pinocchio who is Santa's long-time companion, an Eminem-like rapper, a fire and brimstone preacher, the president of FAGA (Families Against the Gay Agenda) plus puppets who enact FAGA Santa-Gate infomercials -- one of whom is the only cameo appearance of Santa Claus as a child-entrapping pervert. Whew! I surely missed a few over the some eighty minutes of this non-stop documentary-formatted show. The story starts simply enough with Gary, the young boy, asking Santa for a Brenda Ann Doll much to the distress of his mother and father. Santa's workshop foreman takes it upon himself to persuade Santa to change the order. Christmas morning, Gary pulls a toy revolver from his stocking. In spite of his disappointment, Gary still trusts Santa and the following year requests the Dream Date Norm doll. A baseball and mitt are the fruits of his Christmas stocking that year. Santa's veneer is broken down, however, when Gary writes him a heartfelt letter of disillusionment and hurt. Thus begins the "truth" about Santa -- the Untold Story! In a media frenzy that makes the Clinton/Lewinsky coverage seem like so much weak tea, the audience is treated to music by Andrew Ingkavet and Jason Webb, some really cool dancing by several characters, and the remarkable wardrobe of Jeffrey Soloman's quick-changing face, mannerisms, and voices. There were a few technical glitches at the opening that may just mean there are a few too many cues. One also has the feeling that Mr. Soloman's virtuoso performance does not need as many props or as much wardrobe as some of the characters used. His ability with expression, a hat, a nose, a wig is more than sufficient. The rest is just window-dressing. Hilarious at times. Heart-wrenching as well. "Santa Claus is Coming Out" may make you re-think the icons we hold up as heroes to our children and how exclusive those very images are. "Santa Claus Is Coming Out" is a thought-provoking, meaningful way to begin another holiday season! Carolyn Passeneau |