*Note: As per the performance eligibility requirements laid out here, this production is not up for HRACT Award consideration.*

Smithfield Little Theatre loves a four woman show, and this year, they filled their two weekend-only holiday spot with “Winter Wonderettes”, a show sprinkled with classic Christmas songs tied together with a loose plotline wherein the audience finds itself the employees of Harper’s Hardware, and this is the annual Christmas party.  The Wonderettes, while having some ties to the hardware store (one of the four is in fact an employee), are the hired entertainment for the evening.  They greet the audience before the show in character wearing hardware store trench coats, which I thought looked very Ghostbuster-y, but once the show begins, they quickly strip off the coats, revealing very fun brightly colored swing style dresses, with some light holiday touches and matching heels (credit to the costume consultant Sherry Buchanan).

Although you, as an audience member, just discovered you’ve had a long career here at Harper’s Hardware – I wouldn’t get too comfortable about the idea, because before you know it, instead of Christmas bonus checks, we all get pink slips instead.  Sounds like a pretty terrible holiday party, right?  Never fear, the Wonderettes are here to raise our spirits, and the lumber team here at Harper’s Hardware (with the help of set designer John Post, who has apparently been busy designing in the past few weeks) has created a couple of nifty spinning set pieces giving the Wonderettes a comfortable at-home Christmas background to deliver their show from.  Those two set pieces surround a three-person live band in the middle of the stage, comprised of Karen Clark, Steve Clark, and John Petrone (so, if they made their trio permanent, they would be “John Petrone and the Clarks”). 

The Wonderettes’ style of show is what I’d describe as organized chaos in a Muppet-y sort of way, with a lot of crowd-work thrown in.  The four ladies are constantly poking fun at each other as they navigate through this now pretty awkward Christmas party.  They establish their local credentials by doing the high school’s chipmunk cheer (could these be the chipmunks that the groundhogs of “Grand Old Ivy” were trying to rip in “How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying”?).  They ask “what are these tiny guitars?” when ukeleles are delivered to the stage for “Mele Kalikimaka”.  And the quartet really buy into their parts and have a lot of fun with the show, which is infectious throughout the theatre – credit not only to the cast but also to director Al Buchanan for instilling the confidence in them to really explode with energy and interact with the audience in a free and easy style – for this show only works if they can get the audience to play along.

The leading foursome is comprised of Suzy in blue, Betty Jean in green, Missy in orange, and Cindy Lou in pink.  Suzy, played by Christine LaSalle, is (very) pregnant and has twins at home still below the age of one – so she is admittedly a bit loopy with tiredness, but always sweet, and her schtick of talking to her husband who is running the lights (and thus responds to her by turning the lights on and off) is always funny.  LaSalle gave us a strong rendition of “The Man With The Bag”, and her duet in the song “Snowfall” included the tightest harmonies of the night.  The other half of that duet is Jessica Whitlow’s Cindy Lou – playing the sexy, slightly raunchy role of the four, Whitlow carries herself with incredible confidence and verve, especially in her performance of “(We Wanna See) Santa Do The Mambo”.  Jenny Monokrousos as Betty Jean keeps us laughing all night with her over-dramatic movements and facial expressions (and her constant attempts at picking up audience member “Bob”), but also provides a touching moment in “Christmas Will Be Just Another Lonely Day”.  And finally there is the recently married Missy, played by Kim Voska, telling us about her worldwide honeymoon with her new husband (another audience member, this one dubbed “Bill”), who she is completely smitten with and wants everyone to know it – lightly twirling the spaghetti straps of lingerie as she sings “This Christmas (Hang All The Mistletoe)” to her love, before bringing him up on stage for “Santa Baby” later in the show. 

“Winter Wonderettes” is certainly lite fare, but it is not trying to be anything heavier.  SLT is serving you just a little treat as part of your holiday fun – so take that small smackerel and, as they say, enjoy the show!  We here at the HRACT Awards hope all our readers have a wonderful holiday season, and we look forward to a jam-packed second half of the 2025-26 season!