by Adriane Vetter

It's hard to say what I loved about this year's Christmas show at Burien Actor's Theatre.  Directed by Mark 'Mok' Moser,
'The Ultimate Christmas Show (abridged), at times reminded me of some of the funniest skits from early Monty Python's Flying Circus, and actors, Beth Davis, Pepper Handrich, and Anna Richardson definitely are as funny and quirky with their
humor as John Cleese, Graham Chapman and Eric Idle.  In fact, the antics of these three, as they try to put on a show that is supposed to have many more acts (the premise of the play is that after all of the acts for their show are held up by a
killer Winter storm, these three, rather than cancel, decide to put on the show by their lonesomes), are the reason to go.

There's an attempt at Christmas rap, that fails, but tickles as well, as well as some hillarious renditions of familiar Christmas songs, that involve, at one point, impromtu interaction with the audience (if you sit in the front row, be prepared to be pulled
on stage, and also to give an item you want for Christmas, to contribute to the funniest version of 'Twelve Days of Christmas' I think I've ever heard), as well as some 'Star Wars' bits woven into a show that quickly careens into
loony hijinks by the three.  And there are some very tongue-in-cheek political correctness barbs, that poke fun
at people who think there's been a 'war on Christmas' because of the change from the greeting 'Merry Christmas' to 'Happy Holidays', and many other delightful moments in this so-funny-it-made-tears-roll-down-my-cheeks show.

Also, there's a fun gift exchange, where you could get anything from a dvd of 'Scrooged' to a cassette tape of a once
famous rock band, and of course, there's a nativity 'panto' that is side splittingly funny, and guaranteed to chase away
any gloom that may be hanging around in a charged atmosphere this year, in particular.  The show runs from November 25th, through December 18th, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., with Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. and a seven buck Sunday, November 27th.  Go, go, if for nothing else than the handpuppet version of 'The Nutcracker', featuring all three
actresses in a rib ticklingly funny 'ballet'.  For ticket information, go to www.burienactorstheatre.org, or call, 206-235-5358.