One family’s Christmas meeting gets big laughs

  • By Theresa Goffredo / Herald Writer
  • Thursday, December 21, 2006 9:00pm
  • LifeGo-See-Do

Imagine this scene.

A young couple in love is on an airplane. It’s Christmas time. The man, a Catholic, is trying to explain to the woman, an atheist, about the birth of Christ. He describes how the rural birth scene involved some Holsteins. The woman doesn’t know he’s talking about cows.

“I thought a Jewish family was renting.”

Right there, you can tell this is not your traditional Christmas story.

“Greetings,” a play by Tom Dudzick, is in its final two weekends at Edge of the World Theatre in Edmonds. It’s a must-see for those looking for entertainment outside the classic Christmas box of theater offerings, or for those looking for some belly laughs, or who enjoy ribald dialogue, or who want to see more subtle types of miracles performed.

Dudzick has been called “the Catholic Neil Simon,” and this two-act comedy is proof of that, with a script that is packed with wry punchlines, wit and sarcasm.

The story begins with the couple on the plane, Andy Gorsky and Randi Stein. Gorski is taking Stein home to Pittsburgh to meet his devout Catholic parents, Phil and Emily Gorsky.

Phil Gorsky has a bad hip and a bad attitude. He complains about the neighbors who don’t put up Christmas lights, the electricity that doesn’t work right – “I should’a had my head examined hirin’ that guy!” – and whatever else he can find to complain about.

Emily Gorsky generally doesn’t take much lip from her husband, and their exchanges are hilarious and always at top volume.

“Emily, where’s the Bible?”

“It’s holding up the cookbooks.”

“Why not use the phone book?”

“We use the phone book.”

They are middle-class and the set that is their home is modest and done up for Christmas, complete with a manger scene that has the Gorsky’s other son, Mickey, spellbound.

Mickey is a happy, 30-year-old man with the mental age of a 3-year-old. His communication doesn’t get beyond “Hi ya,” “Wow,” or “Oh, boy.”

Once Andy and Randi show up, the friction begins and then the heat rises to an uncomfortable level. With each truth revealed, that Randi is an actress, a Jew and an atheist, Andy and his parents step closer and closer to the breaking point.

His announcement of marriage is received with a cold “Good luck” from Phil.

When the fighting gets almost explosive, something happens. Mickey talks.

That first sentence, which begins with “Greetings,” shocks, then amuses. Imagine, Mickey has an English accent.

“If you could stay a while longer, I might be able to shed some light on this right-or-wrong, God-or-no-God business. But first, a magnificent aroma comes from yonder kitchen – kind lady, may I trouble you for a cup of your coffee?”

From there, Christmas Eve at the Gorskys gets wild, raucous and even bittersweet at times. We watch and realize there are two kinds of people in the world: those who have faced tragedy and turned to God and the others who have turned away. Mickey is there guiding this flock toward perhaps the best miracle in this story: acceptance.

Andy Gorsky is played by Aaron Odom. Sara Trowbridge plays Randi Stein. Brian Vyrostek does a wonderfully convincing job of changing from Mickey to a disembodied spirit. Melanie Calderwood plays Emily. Rick Wright was made to play Phil Gorsky, and you want to hate him, but you are too busy laughing.

Arts writer Theresa Goffredo: 425-339-3424 or tgoffredo@heraldnet.com.

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