Biting ‘Santaland Diaries’ inspiringly acted

Disclosure: I reach a certain point late in the holiday season where I detest anything happy. The sound of one more cheery song can send me into the fetal position.

For those who share my condition, may I suggest BevNap Productions' "The Santaland Diaries," now at the Onyx. Joe Mantello's adaptation of a story by humorist David Sedaris is the cynical man's "Christmas Carol." It's inspiringly acted by Jamie Morris and expertly directed by Christopher Kenney.

Morris plays a 44-year-old man desperate enough to apply for an elf position at a New York department store. He gets the job, but what he sees is not pretty: parents bullying their children into tears to force them to sit on Santa's lap, a mother instructing her 4-year-old son to urinate in the display's fake snow, a child asking Santa if he would bring his dead father back.

But Morris' monologue -- while at times sweet and moving -- is mostly belly laughs. The play exaggerates the insanity of commercialism yet maintains a reality base that makes you believe the author has lived through all this.

This is the production's second stop at the Onyx, and I don't notice any major differences from last year. Morris' line delivery is still amazingly off-the-cuff. That's no small feat considering the obvious: The actor has committed a ton of lines to memory and makes them all sound as if nothing is rehearsed. The show feels like a living-room chat with an intimate friend. He also nearly achieves never-ending vocal variety, which seems impossible with a 75-minute one-man script.

Kenney again provides a stunning visual moment on a tiny stage: Morris sits on a plain stool, with a tired canvas curtain serving as backdrop. But when he arrives for work, the curtain rises, and we're met with a festive potpourri of color and props. You want to applaud, not just for the ingenuity, but the simple approach to a major effect.

Although the adult humor is biting, the authors, director and star provide poignant and hilarious arguments about why it's so important that we genuinely care for one another.

Anthony Del Valle can be reached at vegastheaterchat @aol.com. You can write him c/o Las Vegas Review-Journal, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125.