‘Hope for the Holidays,’ a Zany Christmas Cabaret
It’s 1962, and a clueless television hostess is surrounded by bigwigs and Christmas cocktails while competing with her friends for a lover. Could he be Santa Claus?
That’s the premise of Hope for the Holidays: A Wintry Mix, Jo Brisbane’s send-up of old-style holiday specials refashioned into cabaret form by musical director Eden Casteel. It’s at Cotuit Center for the Arts (4404 Falmouth Road) on Wednesday, Nov. 29 before moving on to venues in New York City and Boston.
Described as “a heartwarming and hilarious holiday spectacular,” the show has an unusual plot. “With Santa going to many places on his journeys, he’s had marriages with different women who are also Hope Henderson’s friends,” says Brisbane. “It becomes a love quadrangle. They compete within some songs for their claims on his love, and there are short monologues about how they met.”
The score includes songs like “Marshmallow World,” “Christmas Kisses,” and “Santa Claus Got Stuck in My Chimney.” Casteel co-stars as Misty Tinsel, and three other Cape actors round out the cast: Jay Stewart gets an Elvis tune as Binaca the Bartender, and Ashley LaCroix and Jane Loutzenhiser — who performed with Brisbane in a Sondheim tribute at this year’s Provincetown Cabaret Festival — play Sugar sisters Candy and Taffy.
Brisbane’s resume includes several shows at the Provincetown Theater, and her years performing at the cabaret festival inspired her to use the format to tell the zany story of her character, Hope. She says she’s embraced the freedom that allows her to direct and produce her own shows and take them on the road. “You kind of make your own way because you can’t stop yourself,” she says. “It really is good for the soul.”
Brisbane says the show is family friendly. “It’s G-rated, unless a four-year-old has a keen sense of innuendo,” she says. She also notes that, while it’s not a drag show, “we all love our wigs.”
Tickets for the show are $10 to $50, including a limited selection of “choose your own price” seats, at artsonthecape.org. See hopehendersonshow.com/hopefortheholidays for more information. —Kathi Scrizzi Driscoll
Julian Cardinal’s ‘Daydream’ at Kiley Court Gallery
Julian Cardinal’s show “Daydream,” currently on view at Kiley Court Gallery (398 Commercial St., Provincetown), includes 15 oil paintings by the Cape Cod-born artist. Much of Cardinal’s work explores the female form. He looks to both vintage and modern fashion imagery to find inspiration from the lines and movements of a garment.
Among the highlights of the show is Profile, in which the black contours of a woman’s white dress shape the garment tightly to her body. The dress is full of abstract shapes and bold color as Cardinal’s palette moves consistently through the canvas. The strongly rendered figure holds our gaze while a little light green gives a sense of dimension and perspective to the abstracted background.
The Rose is a study in color contrasts. The greens from the dapper man’s bouquet are reflected in his yellow vest, while thickly applied streaks of midnight blue give dimension to his black pants. The light pink of a rose is held close to his lips.
There will be an opening reception for the exhibition on Saturday, Nov. 25 from 6 to 8 p.m., and the show will be on view through Dec. 5. See kileycourtgallery.com for more information. —Pat Kearns
A Graphic Novel Reimagines Colonial Cape Cod
When a British soldier-artist, his cross-dressing best friend, an outcast feminist, and an indigenous warrior cross paths at a horse race in colonial Yarmouth Port, their lives become irrevocably entangled.
That’s the premise of Pippa and the Major, a genre-bending graphic novel by Adam Fisk and Fia Perera, with illustrations by Vu Danh. Fisk and Perera will appear at the Provincetown Bookshop (229 Commercial St.) on Sunday, Nov. 26 from 2 to 3 p.m. for a “performative reading” and book signing.
Pippa is the novel’s dominating force. Her feminist politics and activism subvert the standards of the era and capture the attention of William, an unwilling major in the British army. Their love story, across the colonies and high seas, is textured by two broken engagements, a shared defiant streak, and a pair of queer companions who strive to self-actualize beyond the tired caricature of “gay best friend.” (Spoiler: they also fall in love.)
“Everybody loves these period dramas where the truth is kind of distorted,” says Fisk. In this way, Pippa and the Major targets the cult following of historical fantasies like Outlander and Pirates of the Caribbean. Fisk says that he and Perera see their book as an attempt to draw greater attention to the region’s diverse history and voices.
While the story reveals relationships and identities that would have been hidden in the era of the American Revolution, many of the details are drawn from historical sources. Pippa’s best friend, Sparkle — short for “the son who loves sparkling things” — was conceived to honor the legacy of the indigenous peoples of the Cape. Black Bellamy, the novel’s villain, is based on the real pirate Samuel “Black Sam” Bellamy, who plundered and sank merchant ships in the waters off Nantucket. Even Moby, Pippa’s whale friend, is a nod to the literary specter of Herman Melville.
The novel is also shaped by Perera’s own experience and family history. Fisk says that Pippa is “definitely based” on his co-author, and William, the British army major, was influenced by Perera’s ancestors: the Thacher family, who cofounded Yarmouth Port in the 17th century.
The event is free. See provincetownbookshop.com and pippaandthemajor.com for more information. —Aden Choate
Poets Reflect on Anniversary of JFK Assassination
Gloria Monaghan says that her first memory may be hearing a radio broadcast that President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated. Although she was only two years old, she says she felt the world had become unsettled by the tragedy.
Along with poets Doug Anderson, Mary Buchinger, and Tom Daley, Monaghan will read at Voices of Poetry — The Love That Ended Yesterday in Dallas, a program at the Wellfleet Public Library (55 West Main St.) on Nov. 25 marking the 60th anniversary of Kennedy’s murder. Each writer will read original work plus poems from the turbulent years following the assassination. The program will also feature music by Brewster singer-songwriter Paul Kehoe.
A professor in the humanities and social science department at Wentworth University in Boston, Monaghan is the author of six books of poetry including this year’s Cormorant on the Strand, which explores the natural world, romantic deception, and dealing with the past. Her admiration for Kennedy as a champion of the arts, she says, is the main reason she wanted to be part of the program. She will read poems from her new book along with John Berryman’s “Formal Elegy.”
Other poets on the program have personal connections to its theme as well. Anderson’s poetry and memoirs include his experiences as a Vietnam War combat medic, and Buchinger worked in the Peace Corps, a program created by Kennedy.
“For those of our generation, the murder of JFK was a defining moment,” wrote Voices of Poetry founder Neil Silberblatt. “It marked our descent from the (imagined) days of Camelot into the (not so imagined) hell of the Vietnam War and a slew of other assassinations.”
The program is one of over 400 that Voices of Poetry has presented since 2012 in New England and New York. “It’s so important for artists today to find and meet each other,” says Monaghan.
The program begins at 2 p.m. and is free. See wellfleetlibrary.org for more information. —Kathi Scrizzi Driscoll
