Noble Fool's 'Every Christmas' the anti-holiday tale

Call Noble Fool Theatricals' "Every Christmas Story Ever Told" a clever revolt against the same old holiday shows. Or hold it up as another sign of Americans succumbing to attention deficit disorder.

Either way you look at it, the Chicago-area comedy premiere of "Every Christmas Story" serves up something both familiar and new when it comes to holiday entertainment.

Authors Michael Carleton, Jim Fitzgerald and John Alvarez mischievously pare down holiday classics like "The Nutcracker" and "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and jumble them up alongside TV-age holiday ephemera like the commercial of Santa riding an electric Norelco shaver.

The authors are clearly stealing the irreverent formula for slicing and dicing a body of works pioneered by the Reduced Shakespeare Company for bowdlerizing the Bard in "The Compete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)." Imitation is a sincere form of flattery, but "Every Christmas Story" isn't constructed as well as those RSC spoofs, particularly in the haphazard first act offering up scattershot "Christmas Around the World" segments and a tangential piece on the history of fruitcake in "The Fruit, Nut and Dating Game."

Noble Fool's production under John Gawlik's sturdy direction could be a bit zippier in terms of pauses between first act sketches. But Gawlik and his trio of hard-working actors milk most of the mirth from the material.

Brennan Buhl is loads of fun as the smiley childlike member who stars as "Gustav the Green-nosed Reingoat" (changed from "Rudolf" for alleged copyright reasons). Scott Stangland is suave as the trio's know-it-all, while Bob Turton amusingly plays up the stridency as the traditionalist who is thwarted at every turn to perform "A Christmas Carol" unabridged.

The trio particularly shines in the second act when they finally do Charles Dickens' perennial classic (albeit with interruptions from "It's a Wonderful Life"). The closing mixed-up Christmas carol medley is also a winner, pointing out some of the ridiculousness of these lyrics.

So sneer at "Every Christmas Story" if you want your holiday classics whole. Or look at it as a comic timesaver for the busy holiday season. How else can you digest all the holiday shows in just one sitting?

"Every Christmas Story Ever Told!"

Two and a half stars out of four

Location: Pheasant Run Resort & Spa, 4051 E. Main St., St. Charles

Times: 8 p.m. Wednesday through Fridays, 5 and 8:30 p.m. Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays; through Dec. 29

Running time: 100 minutes with intermission

Parking: Ample lots

Tickets: $27-$38 (dinner packages available at $49-$60)

Box office: (630) 584-6342

Rating: Some naughty words and innuendo, plus a possibly disillusioning discussion of Santa