Review of Dee Snider's Rock & Roll Christmas Tale (Broadway Playhouse)

Once upon a time I went to a show and it was called Dee Snider's Rock & Roll Christmas Tale. It was directed by Adam John Hunter. It was choreographed by Robert Tatad and and the music supervision was by Doug Katsaros. It was written by Dee Snider. It was about a band called Daisy Cuter, I mean, Daisy Cutter, and they were a struggling heavy metal band. But then then this drunk guy named Scratch (Bill McGough) tells them to sell their souls to Satan and they think it will be really really metal. But then, of course, something has to go wrong. They suddenly start singing Christmas songs instead of heavy metal songs, but they don't mean to. The Christmas songs sound like heavy metal songs. Then everybody loves that, but they don't want to keep singing Christmas songs. So then they try to stop by having an exorcism. I thought that this was a really fun and great show. I just really enjoyed myself because it was really funny and Dee Snider does great music and you get to be very involved with the story.

I thought that the narration by Dee Snider was really awesome. This time I really liked the direct address. Sometimes I hate direct address because it takes people out of their character and it seems like you are not experiencing the story. But this was super funny and kept you interested in the story but didn't distract from the story. His Twisted Sister videos don't exactly seem like he's a big fan of Christmas. But I think this shows that all of us were wrong because after you have seen the show you realize how nice he is. He also doesn't act like you think a rock star would by being like, "I'm all metal! Listen to me if you want to be a rockstar like ME! You can't! Ha ha ha ha!" He doesn't seem stuck up. He seems stuck-down. Stuck down means the opposite of stuck up: you are nice to people and you don't think you are better than other people.

I noticed that the lead singer's name D.D. (Adam Michaels) kind of sounds like Dee Snider. And I think that Dee Snider was trying to make a point about rock and roll stars. That point was that even though he is a big rock star, he kind of started out like this. And D.D. also dressed in the opening number like Dee Snider did in the "We're Not Going to Take It" video. D.D. wore a giant blonde curly wig and that is Dee Snider's signature wig. Also they dressed in very very tight leggings, and the lead singer was in kind of a girly outfit (costumes by Suzette Guilot-Snider). I think that Dee Snider might have felt like that when he started out that, because he was the lead singer, he was better than everybody else. But he is not like that now. And D.D. learns not to be stuck up when Suzette (Keely Vasquez) sings that song to him. "You're Just a Punk Who Can Sing," which I think is probably the best title in the world.

I really loved Suzette and Ralph's (Wilam Tarris) relationship. I thought it was very funny and sweet. Like I really liked the scene where he was giving her a Christmas present but also while he was doing that scene he started playing with this toy Rudolph that he saved when they were burning all the Christmas stuff as part of the exorcism. He made it walk away and then it would seem like it pulled him towards the stage. It was so funny. I really liked how she started playing the drums because what he had gotten her was a pair of purple drumsticks. That showed you that Ralph wanted her to be interested in stuff that he liked so then they could be an unstoppable couple. He doesn't seem like the smartest person in the world, but he is still the most adorable. And I don't understand why everyone thought Suzette was so much older than him. I didn't think she looked old at all. I thought she was very pretty. I think that even if she was old, that would still be okay.

I really liked the "We're Not Gonna Take It/O Come All Ye Faithful" song. It was very very funny. Those are just two songs that are so different, but when you put them together it is actually pretty awesome. I also loved the scene with "I Wanna Rock" and "White Christmas." I thought this was one of the most comedic parts. I really liked how they had a dead Christmas tree on stage, but then it decided to light itself up. And when D.D, turned around he was like, "No! No!" and threw it off the stage. I just loved how when D.D. is singing and trying to tell everybody how much Christmas sucks, it turns out that a inflatable snowman wants to show everyone how much Christmas rocks. The inflatable snowman keeps showing up, but D.D. keeps beating it up. This scene shows you how the band wants to get D.D. back to not hating the music that the band plays. He hates it because it is Christmas music, and he is too metal for that. No one is too metal for Christmas though. Christmas can be super metal and the entire rest of the band knows that.

At the end a certain somebody (McGough) is giving out presents to everyone. And Tank (Tommy Hahn) gets Rock'em Sock'em Robots which he wanted when he was 10, but then he is still excited. They call him the angry one, but maybe if he had gotten his dream present a few years ago maybe they wouldn't still call him the angry one. And Johnny (Dan Peters) always wanted a little Angel, and so he got one, in other words, he got a girlfriend named Angel (Christina Nieves) who was one of the bartenders he always liked. I thought Angel and the other bartender Angie (Taylor Yacktman) were very funny. Their voices that they made whenever they talked around the band were very funny because they would kind of make a little fake-shy voice. I thought when they burst out with their singing at the end, I was like, "Whoah! They have great voices!"

People who would like this show are people who like metal Christmases, Dee Snider, and rocking inflatable snowmen. It was so much fun. I loved every single character and I think the story was fuh-larious. You shouldn't just go to see Dee Snider, you should go to see an amazingly Christmasy and rocking play.

Photos: Justin Barbin Photography