Special to the PRESS
“The Ultimate Christmas Show (abridged) will make your spirits bright, whether you joyfully embrace the upcoming season or get dragged into it kicking and screaming.” – Broadway World
On Dec. 9, 10 and 11, 2024, the El Paseo Arts Foundation [EPAF] welcomes the Reduced Shakespeare Company and their Ultimate Christmas Show (abridged) to the stage at the South Padre Island Convention
Center.
Called a “trio of Modern Marx Brothers” by the Boston Herald and “intellectual vaudeville” by the New York Times, The Reduced Shakespeare Company [RSC] is a touring American comedy troupe that performs
fast-paced, seemingly improvisational condensations of huge topics. They hold the record for the longest-running comedies in the history of London’s West End as three of its shows ran in repertory at the Criterion
Theatre in Piccadilly Circus for almost ten years.
Since its pass-the-hat origins in 1981, the RSC has created ten world-renowned stage shows, two television specials, several failed TV pilots, and numerous radio pieces, all of which have been performed, seen and
heard across the globe. The company’s itinerary has included stops off-Broadway, at the White House, the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, London’s West End, Seattle Repertory Theatre, American Repertory Theatre and Montreal’s famed Just For Laughs Festival, as well as performances in Israel, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Japan, Malta, Singapore, and Bermuda, plus countless civic and university venues throughout the USA, the UK, and Europe.
The RSC won the prestigious Shorty Award in New York City and the Delft Audience Award in Holland. They’ve also been nominated for an Olivier Award in London, two Helen Hayes Awards in Washington,
DC, the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award, and several podcast awards.
The Ultimate Christmas Show (abridged) begins as the Annual Holiday Variety Show and Christmas Pageant at St. Everybody’s Non-Denominational Universalist Church, where all faiths are welcome because
“we’ll believe anything.” But there’s a problem: None of the acts scheduled to perform have arrived, so the three members of the Reduced Shakespeare Company are pressed into service to perform the entire Variety
Show and Christmas Pageant by themselves, and the madcap comedy ensues.
Audiences will learn how Santa saved Christmas, sing along with The Ultimate Reduced Christmas Carol and celebrate Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Saturnalia. They may even cringe at the origin of the term
“Nutcracker!” and be challenged to memorize the new lyrics to The 12 Days of Christmas with iPads, not Lords A Leaping! They will gasp at the shocking history of best-loved Christmas traditions.
Audiences are also invited to bring a wrapped holiday gift valued at $5 or less and participate in the gift exchange.
Tickets for the Ultimate Christmas Show (abridged) are $30 per person, $25 for El Paseo Arts members. Tickets are available for purchase at S.O.S., the SPI Art Business Incubator, the Art Gallery in Lighthouse
Square, and online at www.elpaseoarts.org.
Comments