Christmas Theater 2025, Part II

There are two distinct locales for this critique: the Regency manse at Pemberley (Georgiana and Kitty, Christmas at Pemberley at Main Street) and C.S. Lewis’ mystical realm of Narnia (Narnia, the Musical, at A.D. Players). Both places are required viewing during the holiday season; G and K for the adults, Narnia for the kiddies (although adults might learn a thing or two, also).

Georgiana and Kitty, Christmas at Pemberley

Lauren Gunderson remains the most produced playwright in the U.S., so says the statistical bible of theater production, American Theatre magazine. Who, I hear you asking? This young prolific writer has penned a raft of plays that have struck a chord with audiences: The Revolutionists, Silent Sky, The Half-Life of Marie Curie, The Book of Will, I and You, among others. She focuses on women in historical contexts, to honor their courage, grit, and determination to match men in whatever field they espouse. She gives these under-appreciated women their due, deservedly so.

She hit gold with her social satire trilogy, Christmas at Pemberley, a witty, Wildean triple bill that asks the question, What happened to everybody after Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Where are they now? The Janeites turned out in droves to re-connect with the five Bennet sisters and learn their fate, and, during the holiday season, one of her triad is playing somewhere in America. Be it Miss Bennet, The Wickhams, or Georgiana and Kitty.

Clever, intelligent Elizabeth and her cat-and-mouse maneuverings with Fitzwilliam Darcy was so thoroughly covered in P&P that I assume Gunderson and co-writer Margot Melcon decided that these two had enough print time, so they sought to mine the other four daughters. Bookworm Mary, an observer with sharp tongue and bon mots, takes center stage in Miss Bennet; wayward and flighty Lydia, the youngest, is the protagonist of The Wickhams; and Kitty is somewhat the focus of Georgiana and Kitty. Somewhat, because Darcy’s sister Georgiana is soloed almost exclusively. Poor Kitty is a plus-one. And dear, sweet Jane, the eldest, is relegated through the triptyph as almost non-existent, sitting on the divan either pregnant and doing needlepoint or as a new mother on the divan doing needlepoint. Yemi Otulana is a striking presence on stage, but Jane is so underwritten and underused you wonder why Gunderson and Melcon even included her. 

So the play falls to Georgiana and actor Lindsey Ehrhardt, who has a field day in the role. She is headstrong, at odds with her stuffy brother, and a prodigy at the piano. She composes on the side, but under an assumed male name. This ruse will be the fulcrum around which the second act – and her love story – revolves. Ehrhardt never disappoints, whether playing the haughty and pompous Anne de Bough in Miss Bennet or the liberated, outspoken Georgiana. If she keeps her light under a bushel, it isn’t for long. She blazes.

Robby Matlock (so memorable in Stages’ The Lehman Trilogy as youngest brother Mayer, the “potato”) plays Henry Grey, in love with Georgiana from afar ever since he met her at one of her concerts. Prejudiced Darcy neither approves of this match nor her playing in public. Matlock knows just what he’s doing with his awkward poses and obsequious bows, but we know the flame for Georgiana will not be extinguished. No matter the obstacles – and there are many to be thrown in his path – he will win her, he thinks, even after years of not seeing her. It’s a detailed performance, right in every way.

Clara Marsh, as Kitty, has to battle with a few plot predicaments that don’t ring true, but she rides over them with a bubbly and true personality. Ian Lewis, who has lost his rich Irish accent since last he played Thomas O’Brien in 2023, still possesses devilish charm in spades. As boisterous Lydia who refuses to be bored at Pemberley, Helen Rios needs a net thrown over her to keep her down. Way over the top. Always the diplomat, Laura Kaldis, as Elizabeth Bennet, is all poise and soothing sister to her siblings, charming and attractive as the robin’s egg blue of Pemberley’s wallpaper. Tsk-ing in the background or making peace between her adored husband and his once-adored sister, she and Darcy (a proud and ramrod Spencer Plachy) don’t have much to do in this play except run interference for the others, but Darcy’s heartfelt apology to Georgiana at play’s end is the moral of the tale and is rendered with conviction and sincerity. Bravo, Plachy.  

Dare I say, many complications arise for the indefatigable and irrepressible Bennet sisters, yet the comic play keeps all the balls in the air with immense grace and charm. It has a lovely way of blending the ancient regime with our new one. Clever and witty, the repartee is Austen-like, skewing toward the distaff at Darcy’s expense. There’s a satisfactory twist at the end which is neat, a proposal long overdue, family arguments to get settled with sisterly wiles, recitals at the pianoforte, and Donna Southern Smith’s radiant costumes to keep you enthralled. There are tail coats to be whisked up before sitting for the men, and multiple empire gowns for the ladies of the manse with detailed embroidery or diaphanous overlays.

It’s quite the picture at Main Street’s Pemberley. Immerse yourself in another world that often looks surprisingly like our own.

Georgiana and Kitty, Christmas at Pemberley continues through December 21 at 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays and 3 p.m. Sundays at Main Street Theater, 2540 Times Boulevard. For more information, call 713-524-6706 or visit mainstreettheater.com. $15-$64.

Narnia, the Musical

Not to be confused with Narnia, the Ballet, or Narnia, the Interpretive Dance, or Narnia, The Symphonic Poem, Narnia, the Musical (off-Broadway, 1993) is exactly what it says it is. The show is built for kids, and for the most part they should eat it up. Of course, I doubt they will understand the religious parable that C.S. Lewis weaves through his hit books that chronicle the adventures of the four Pevensie children (Lucy, Susan, Peter and Edmund) sent into the English countryside to escape the German blitz on London during the early days of WW II.

Inside the immense wardrobe in the Professor’s gothic country house, the children enter a magic portal that transports them into the fantasy world of Narnia, where talking fauns carry umbrellas (he talks in this show, but no umbrella), unicorns run free, cantankerous married beavers bicker, and there is now perpetual snow and ice. There’s winter, but no Christmas, say the enchanted inhabitants. The tyrannical White Witch rules the kingdom., but the actual king is Aslan, the mighty and fierce Lion, who is the actual ruler. His return is dreaded by the Witch and by the prophecy of her power being defeated by “two sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve.” Hence, any humans in her kingdom are immediately killed or seduced into her service, as is Edmund by Turkish Delight and the promise to be made king.

In an abbreviated adaptation by Jules Tasca of Lewis’ classic tale The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,the musical skips over motivation and character development to give us archetypes and easy-to-decipher plot points. The music, by prolific composer Thomas Tierney, is a bit Sondheim-light with jagged melodies that cry for that master’s orchestrator, Jonathan Tunick. Ted Drachman’s lyrics are fine and serviceable, but the music, prerecorded, sounds thin and undistinguished via synthesizer. That’s too bad, because a few of the numbers are quite memorable: “Doors and Windows;” “Narnia (You Can’t Imagine), sung hymn-like by Saroa-Dwayne Sasa as Mr. Tumnus, the faun; a jazzy “Hot and Bothered,” sung by the White Witch (a deliciously evil Amber Ward with the belt of Merman); Aslan’s gorgeous ballad to a repentant Edmund, “From the Inside Out,” or his anthem “To Make the World Right Again,” both rendered in the sonorous tenor of Daniel Z. Miller. There’s gold in this score, it’s just insufficiently mined.

Watch and listen to Mark Quach and Leah Bernal as Mr. and Mrs. Beaver. You can’t miss ‘em. They delightfully chew up the scenery and sing up a storm. What a pair of English music hall vaudevillians.

I must say, the child actors are very good indeed. And they can sing. Jonah Mendoza’s Peter can really sing, loud and crisp, and effective. It was a pleasure hearing him. Everett Baumgarten’s falsetto relayed  Edmund’s petulance and vanity; Paige Klase’s Susan was no-nonsense in her anti-war stance; and little Annalise Wisdom, as young Lucy, displayed great chops in the lovely “A Field of Flowers,” an ode to Aslan.

The pacing by director Ashlee Wasmund is lackluster with awkward pauses or entrances and exits abnormally drawn out. Even the turntable turns too slowly. Pick up the pace, please, or else the kids will be falling asleep after the opening number.

The biggest disappointment is Afsaneh Aayani’s puppet for Aslan. Her prior work in Houston theater has always been amazing, clever, often verging on the astonishing. But here, big ol’ lug Aslan is a bore. Moved by three puppeteers, among them Miller as his voice, head, and front leg, Aslan has no grace, charm, or much imagination. His mouth doesn’t even move. Really, we’ve seen The Lion King and The Life of Pi. We know how incredibly believable life-size puppets can be, even when manipulated by onstage hands. But this Aslan needs an overhaul. 

The Sunday matinee performance was sold-out, so the story of Narnia still sells. An international best-seller for decades, always listed as one of the great reads for children (and some adults, too), Lewis’ magic carpet ride speaks to children of all ages. A.D. Player’s production, abetted by Tatiana Vintu’s fanciful sets, Kristina Miller-Ortiz’ whimsical costumes, David Palmer’s lighting, those talented kids, the grand ol’ troupers enlivening the Beavers, and Joel Sandel’s crusty ol’ Father Christmas and a wry, all-knowing Professor, keep this story of faith, hope, and community alive for another generation. It just needs more magic.

Narnia, the Musical continues through December 23 at 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays at A.D. Players at The George, 5420 Westheimer. For more information, call 713-526-2721 or visit adplayers.org. $10-$85.

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