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| Stephen Spinella and Tovah Feldshuh in Volpone. |
Sometimes the plays and films and TV shows that best fill me with the Christmas spirit aren't the ones that directly relate to the holiday. Take, for example, Red Bull Theater's jaunty, frolicsome production of Ben Jonson's Volpone, part satire, part morality tale about greed.
Even on the musical front, I prefer the the dark yet hope-filled current Broadway revival of Annie to the overdone spectacle of A Christmas Story, The Musical. I guess Annie is kinda, sorta a Christmas musical, since it takes place in December and ends at Christmas, but it's still a subtler celebration of the season, which is just how I like to mark it.
