Go! review

Who has time for television and theater this time of year? With all the beloved holiday classics on area stages and television screens, it’s difficult – nay, impossible – to see everything that’s out there.

That is, it was impossible until the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company began to offer “Every Christmas Story Ever Told,” a condensed version of every Christmas story ever told boiled down to the barest and most hilarious essentials.

Of course, it begins with the famous words: “Marley was dead to begin with.” But the young man playing the ghost objects to yet another version of “A Christmas Carol,” and so a a trio from the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company (Justin McCombs, Sara Clark and CSC founding member Nick Rose) embark on an exploration of the Christmas canon. The first act includes versions of “Frosty the Snowman,” “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” and “Gustav the Green-Nosed Reingoat,” a version of a beloved holiday classic cleverly disguised so as to avoid any possible copyright infringement. O. Henry’s “Gift of the Magi” features a cross-dressing McCombs and Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker” is presented with little more than a pose.

It’s all high-energy and not particularly tight, although the off-stage Santa, who also serves as a sort of warm-up act, is especially tight, if you know what I mean.

The second act, however, requires a lot of fast thinking and quick transitions from the team as they do a mash-up of “A Christmas Carol” and “It’s a Wonderful Life,” with Clark doing double duty as the curmudgeonly Scrooge and the humble George Bailey (gotta love her James Stewart impersonation), bringing out the hidden parallels to their respective stories.

It’s all very casual and fun, and perhaps the best thing that this production has going for it is that it takes place in a bar.

• WHAT: “Every Christmas Story Ever Told” By Michael Carleton, John Fitzgerald and Jim Alvarez
• WHERE: Arnold’s Bar & Grill, 210 E. Eighth St., Cincinnati
• WHEN: Seating at 6 p.m.; show 7:30 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday
• COST: $20 adults; $15 students, does not include meal
• MORE INFO: (513) 381-2273; www.cincyshakes.com