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Evan Donellan

Lorelai Mucciolo and Jae Hughes reprise their roles as Emily and Amos the Mouse this year. Photo by Carmen Barbosa

By Heidi Sutton

While the doors of the Smithtown Center for the Performing Arts (SPAC) on Main Street remain shuttered, the theater continues its partnership with the Smithtown Historical Society to present the magic of live theater for young audiences. Following in the footsteps of sold-out performances of Moana Jr. in the summer and Spookley the Square Pumpkin in the fall, SPAC now brings the community a socially distant outdoor production of Ken Ludwig’s ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. The show will run on various Saturdays and Sundays on the grounds of the society through Dec. 24.

It’s Christmas Eve and Uncle Brierly (Evan Donellan) attempts to read his favorite poem, Clement C. Moore’s ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas to the audience. He gets as far as, “Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse” only to be interrupted by a mouse who is in fact stirring batter to make cookies for Santa in hopes that he’ll show up this year.

The mouse, named Amos (Jae Hughes), insists that Santa skipped the house the year before, a claim backed up by Emily (Lorelai Mucciolo), Brierly’s niece and Amos’ best friend. An elf named Calliope (Gabrielle Arroyo) suddenly appears and confirms that Santa’s naughty-or-nice list went missing last year and other families suffered the same fate.

With only a few hours left until Christmas Day, Calliope, Emily and a very reluctant Amos set off on a plane to the North Pole on a quest to prevent this from happening again and to save Christmas.

When they arrive at Santa’s workshop, they overhear a former elf, Sir Guy of Gisbourne (Donellan), tell his sidekick Mulch (Anthony Panarello), how he sold the children’s Christmas wish list to retailers last year and plans to do it again this year. What follows is a madcap rush to retrieve this year’s list with a surprise appearance from Amos’s brother from Kansas (the incredible Hughes in a dual role), a hysterical case of mistaken identity, an exciting sword fight, an elf cheer, a visit from Santa Claus (Panarello) and a hilarious chase scene around the stage to the Benny Hill theme song.

Will Emily, Amos and Calliope succeed in their quest? Will all the boys and girls receive presents this year? Was it all a dream? With the underlying holiday message that the best Christmas presents don’t come in packages and to make life an adventure, this show is truly a joyful tribute to the holiday season!

The Smithtown Center for the Performing Arts presents Ken Ludwig’s ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas in the open air outdoor performance space behind the Smithtown Historical Society’s Roseneath Cottage, 239 Middle Country Rd., Smithtown on Dec. 12, 13, 19, 20 and 24 at 11 a.m. Running time is one hour with no intermission. Masks are required. Tickets are $18 per person.

For an additional $7 per family (5 person maximum), guests are invited to stay after the show for a distanced photo opportunity with a live Santa followed by photo opportunities at other locations on the property with Santa’s elves, field of snowmen, lighted Christmas tree, etc., all outside and safely distanced, from 12:30 to 3 p.m. Bring your own camera.

To order tickets for either event, please visit www.smithtownpac.org.

By Melissa Arnold

Why is there so much suffering in the world? Why do children die? Is there a God, and does He really answer prayers? Plenty of us grapple with those questions from time to time, and the Smithtown Center for the Performing Arts has tracked down the Big Man Himself to get some answers in the one-act comedy, “An Act of God.” The show opened last Saturday.

The 90-minute play is a stage adaptation of “The Last Testament: A Memoir,” a satirical book written by “God,” aka David Javerbaum. Javerbaum has won more than a dozen Emmy Awards over the course of his comedy career, most of them earned as the head writer for “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.” He’s also the voice behind the snarky Twitter account @TheTweetOfGod, which has amassed 5.6 million followers  – no pun intended. 

“An Act of God” isn’t your typical Broadway show with a neatly packaged storyline. Instead, it’s meant to treat audiences to a live and in-person encounter with God (Evan Donnellan), who’s not exactly the embodiment of divine goodness. In fact, God is fed up with the way He has been misrepresented by organized religions and has come to Broadway to set the record straight. He’s even got a new and improved set of commandments to share, among them “Thou shalt not tell others whom to fornicate.”

Donnellan oozes charisma and command as God, who is at once charming and narcissistic. His jokes are shocking and laugh-out-loud funny, but Donnellan creates striking dissonance during his character’s pessimistic rants and self-absorbed navel gazing. He also deserves serious kudos for the amount of preparation involved for this show – the majority is a monologue.

Supporting God’s appearance are his faithful archangels, Gabriel (Scott Hofer) and Michael (Jordan Hue). Hofer’s Gabriel is obedient but goofy, adding his own comedic touches as the show’s Bible reader and peanut gallery. In contrast, Michael is often sullen as he wanders through the crowd, asking God those tough questions and seeming unsatisfied with His answers. The trio has great chemistry, and watching God try to keep the two of them in line is a lot of fun.

It’s obvious that director Christine Boehm and the cast have taken some liberties with the original script, but that’s a good thing. Early in the show, they make fun of their own decor – it seems they’ve decided to leave much of the set for the children’s theater production of “Aladdin Jr.” in place, since the shows run concurrently until Feb. 24. They also reference the ticket prices, Smithtown and Evan Donnellan’s looks and personality, as well as the original Broadway production’s lead, well-loved “Big Bang Theory” star Jim Parsons. 

Be prepared, God is always watching – He’ll make a point of drawing attention to and potentially embarrassing random audience members during the show. Don’t take it personally.

The bottom line is that while the cast is very talented and the special effects are cool, this show is simply not for everyone. The script aims for satire but often either misses the mark or drifts into territory that’s just offensive. 

Those with deeply rooted religious beliefs might want to give this one a pass, unless you can handle 90 minutes of unapologetic cynicism and crude blasphemy. But if you keep an open mind and a sense of (twisted) humor, you might feel inspired by the show’s overarching message that you should believe in yourself. Or you might feel nothing at all. Your mileage may vary.

See “An Act of God” through March 3 at the Smithtown Center for the Performing Arts, 2 E. Main St., Smithtown. Tickets are $38 adults, $34 seniors, $25 students. Contains strong language, references to drugs and strong sexual content throughout. For tickets and info, call 631-724-3700 or visit www.smithtownpac.org. 

All photos by Courtney Braun