By THE ENTHUSIAST
Give My Regards To Broadway
Surprisingly enough, Broadway has contributed all but bupkis to the Christmas songbook. Few if any show tunes are featured on traditional holiday playlists – with the notable exception of "We Need A Little Christmas" from Mame. Santa hats off to you, Jerome Lawrence, Robert Edwin Lee and Jerry Herman.
In Stitches
As an aside, Mame’s famously insouciant motto – ‘Life is a banquet and most poor sons of bitches are starving to death’ – would make a terrific needlepoint throw pillow for the holidays. No need to thank The Enthusiast – it’s a pleasure just to be of service.
Parlor Games
Now, The Enthusiast bows to no man in his admiration of Jerry Herman, but it has to be said that the following ranks among the very glossiest of lyrical glosses:
We need a little Christmas
Right this very minute
Candles in the window Carols at the spinet
The spinet, you say? Are we to gather that Mame is set in an 18th century sitting room? One can’t help but wonder what other lines were considered and discarded:
Take this trash and bin it
Play Mahjong and win it
Chugalug that Freixenet
The reader is encouraged to while away a happy hour considering other alternates.
Can't Wait For The Hollyday
That being said, the song’s opening lyrics are the perfect anthem for the Early Christmas so many of us have been celebrating ever since clearing the turkey away late last month:
Haul out the holly Put up the tree before my spirit falls again Fill up the stocking I may be rushing things, but deck the halls again now
Rushing things? Not at all. In 2020, the sooner that holly’s hauled out the better.
Halfway To The Stars
Many years ago when The Enthusiast was a strapping young lad growing up out west, seeing the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus holiday show was a yearly tradition, and their performance of "We Need A Little Christmas" always brought down the house. Here’s to the memories we cherish - and to those we’ve yet to make.
Number five in a series.
5 December 2020
The Enthusiast (offbroadway@outlook.com) is the pen name of critic Michael Collins. He reports back only on what’s good, never what’s bad. He is currently imbued with the holiday spirit.