Chriskirkpatrickmas: A Boy Band Christmas Musical

With the plethora of versions that grace stages across the country come December, you might not be blamed for thinking that there simply aren’t any more adaptations of A Christmas Carol eft to explore. Well you thought wrong, as Chriskirkpatrickmas is here to make all your boy band dreams come true (well maybe not that one about Take That, but that sounded potentially illegal). 

We meet Chris Kirkpatrick from *NSYNC in Starbucks one Hollywood festive eve. All he wants for Christmas is Justin Timberlake to finally come off hiatus and bring the band back together. His wish summons the ghost of cringes past; Marky Mark, Mark Walberg's 90s rap iteration who died so the actor could live (and assumedly so no one would ever bring up that history of racial assault). Through song and really rather good choreography, this explodes into the drag king extravaganza that no one may have asked for, but we surely deserve.

It’s Valen Shore, who also plays the titular Chris, who we have to blame for this incredibly well executed silliness. The music and lyrics are tight, rich and full of grade A punning and early 2000s nostalgia. This is supported by actually quite fantastic costume and wig switching by the multi-roling cast. Who would have thought that quick change boy band beards could be this slick? 

Chriskirkpatrickmas at its best is a slick parody with plenty of idiotic joy. There's also sometimes the sense of this being a high quality improv sketch that an eccentric rich person has extended with bundles of cash and the musical director of Hamilton (yes, really). But your guaranteed a good time, as NYSNC would say, This I Promise You