Joseph Howells. Photos courtesy of Fresh Frame Foto.
It is a rare treat indeed, especially in the depths of the commercialized good-tidings season, to be confronted with the genuinely-generous and spirited-actuality that is the 11th (!) annual melodrama from our good friends at The Garage and Alive Theaters. As the holidays seem to pile up, bogging us down with work, last minute planning, expensive travel, family time and consumer distractions, it is a blessing to find a quick escape that proves to be as necessary as it is irreverent.
Writer and director Jamie Sweet has been staging his melodramas here in Long Beach for 11 years now, a not so small feat to say the least. Until this year however, I had yet to have the privilege of attending. Now, it is clear to see what all the fuss has been about. In its own slapdash and charming ways, The Holiday Melodrama at the Garage is the perfect antidote to the standard cliches of the holiday season. In fact, while attending the melodrama, one can’t really help but feel like they’re a part of an eccentric and theatrical little family here in Long Beach, which for the duration of the show at the very least, they most certainly are.
Rob Young & Maribella Magana
It is a treat to see all the classic melodrama tropes and character types played out against the backdrop of a Long Beach from a past that never quite actually existed. Viewing it in fact stirs up the kind of nostalgia that the holidays always seems to specialize in, yet instead of dragging us kicking and screaming into our holiday sweaters and family photos, The Melodrama, for a brisk hour and a half, reminds us of the extended family we all share here in our city, that of our neighbors and peers.
In between the two acts of wit and playful artifice, there is free ice cream handed out and the suggestion of socializing with strangers that much of the show’s interactive nature suggests transforms into strangers actually talking to one another.
Thomas Amerman
The night that I attended, the lovely young couple to my left introduced themselves to me at intermission. I discovered they had moved to Long Beach from Savannah and had attended the same school there as some former east coast roommates of mine. They went on to tell me me that they come to The Melodrama every year as a tradition, and that they always try to bring new friends along with them. The friends they brought this year, a 20- something couple who had been laughing louder than almost anyone else through the first act were then asked what they thought so far. You could tell before they even opened their goofy, smiling mouths that they were having a great time. Then the couple shared their drinks with me, a total stranger. It was awesome.
Jamie Sweet and the entire cast and crew for The Melodrama should also be smiling goofily as they read this, knowing that their spirited hard work is paying off in ways that makes the community feel like telling stories to each other and sharing drinks with total strangers. That in many ways, their simple rendition of a time-old-story-telling practice is actually getting people into the theater to participate and make friends with those around them. That somewhere, in the midst of all the fabric flowers and felt tomatoes being hurled at the stage, (the couple behind me even made their own tomatoes for extra fire power) they are allowing us to participate in a tradition that at its core unites community and celebrates our humanity in a timeless and playfully-ridiculous manner.
Stephani Keith, Rob Young & Katie Faris
As an end to an awesome season at The Garage Theater, this is a really fun way to go out. As the continuation of a holiday tradition, it does exactly what keeps the engine going. Come be a part of the party everybody before it goes away forever.
As for me, to those of you at The Garage and Alive Theater and to all my lovely readers, I’ll see you all next year. If you do participate in gift giving holidays, think about the gift of subscription to any of our cities theatrical institutions this season. It helps keep them afloat, and it keeps all of us going to the theater.
Thanks for reading and have a wonderful new year.