Mistletoe & Mayhem: The Hallmark Parody of the Season! Brings Merriment and Mirth to the Phoenix Theater

Still bummed about the first real snow of the season? Still smarting from the Loons’ loss in the division semifinals? Don’t dwell on icy roads, think about the fact that this means we may get a White Christmas! And hey, the new MLS season kicks off February 21st! But if you need help seeing past the disappointments, Mistletoe & Mayhem: The Hallmark Parody of the Season! is just the ticket to kickstart your holiday spirit.

Using the Hallmark Channel Christmas movie template as fodder for comedy isn’t new, but that’s perfectly fitting, because neither are the movies themselves. What matters is the execution. From past experience, I’ve learned that the script determines how successfully this concept lands. It can’t simply skewer one trope after another; it still needs its own story. Just Us Theater’s production, written by Jami Newstrom, not only delivers a story packed with laughs, it even positions itself beautifully for a sequel.

The story follows Victoria Steele, a cold-as-steel big city corporate executive sent to evaluate the town of Snowberry Falls as a potential site for an Evergreen Resort. There, she joins the town’s over-the-top holiday festivities and of course, slowly warms to the cheerfully aggressive Christmas spirit of a place that celebrates the holiday eleven months out of the year. The town is filled with colorful characters: Hank and Betty Evergreen, Grandma Twinkles Evergreen, Mayor Kringle, Carol, Joy, and Nick Evergreen, the handyman and Mr. December in the Holiday Hunk Calendar. As Victoria begins thawing in the glow of Nick’s holiday hunk energy, her smug city boyfriend Chad inconveniently arrives. By the final bow, Newstrom ties up all the main plot threads nicely…but leaves just the right mysteries dangling: What did Carol do to land on Betty’s naughty list? Why only eleven months of Christmas? And what’s the real story with Marzipan, the goat?

The cast is a delight. Dawn Krosnowski is technically polished as the hard edged businesswoman but wonderfully vulnerable as Snowberry Falls works its magic. Instead of acting annoyed by the town’s chaos, she plays amused disbelief, giving us a human being to root for rather than a stock caricature. Tim Uren and Sarah Broude are hilarious as Hank and Betty Evergreen (for a peek of them in character, check out the Stages of MN Holiday Preview episode: https://bit.ly/TSOMNEp21YouTube). One of my favorite moments comes courtesy of Uren’s Hank after sampling a fudge that’s been…unexpectedly microdosed. Sam Poppen’s Nick plays the straight man to the madness brilliantly, even while doing wonderfully silly bits like solemnly adding a log to the fire from his handyman toolbox.

Newstrom, who also directs and designed the production, nails the tone. It sits perfectly between impossibly ridiculous and genuinely sincere. The production design is impressively elaborate for the Phoenix Theater’s small space. The holiday excess feels intentional, curated, and festive, not like someone simply threw tinsel at every surface and hoped for the best.

Let’s make Mistletoe & Mayhem: The Hallmark Parody of the Season! a hit so big that Just Us Theater has to cash in next year with: Mistletoeier & Mayhemier 2: Return to Snowberry Falls! To make that sequel happen, buy your tickets at https://mistletoe-mayhem.com/. The show runs through December 14th at the Phoenix Theater in Uptown.

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