By: Alec Clayton
Saul Tannenbaum’s “Claus for Celebration” is fast becoming a popular Olympia tradition.
Saul Tannenbaum is the alter ego of Olympian actor and singer Josh Anderson. He’s a lovely German Jewish gentleman with big glasses, a gravelly voice and bushy beard, and a kind word for everyone.
Anderson is the musical director at Unity Church in Olympia. He teaches at Olympia Family Theater’s camps and at Tacoma Musical Playhouse and has been a longtime actor and director at area theaters, most recently directing “A Christmas Story” for OFT. His partner in the Saul Tannenbaum shows, Christina Collins, also has a background in theater, having most recently been seen in “Othello” at Olympia Little Theatre, and she recently formed a rock band which had its first performance at the Voyeur in downtown Olympia.
The character Saul Tannenbaum was born old on Dec. 3rd three years ago, hatched from the fertile minds of Anderson and Collins. Anderson had been slated to perform in “Annie” at Capital Playhouse that year, but the play was cancelled. They were sitting on their front porch talking when Anderson said, “Hey, let’s do a Christmas show,” and they begin to bounce ideas back and forth about what kind of show they could do, where they could do it and who they could get to do it with them.
Collins said, “Josh came up with the voice before he came up with the name.” He began playing around with a voice based on an idea of an old German Jew and then came up with the name Saul, and since they were thinking of a Christmas show, they thought the obvious choice for a last name would be Tannenbaum, a German name for a Christmas tree, and they built their show around a character named Saul Tannenbaum, and they invited friends to help them and performed the first ever “Claus for Christmas” show at the 4th Ave Tav.
The show is a musical revue featuring many favorite Christmas songs. But it is more than just music. It’s a fully scripted show. Each performer is a fictitious character, and each character has his or her on history and backstory. The first show featured, in addition to Anderson and Collins, Katie Youngers, Lauren O’Neill, Erica Penn, Rochelle Morris and Matthew Flores, all seasoned theatrical and musical performers.
Collins performs as Mona Von Horne, a blonde femme fatale loosely based on Marlene Dietrich. “Specifically Madeline Kahn’s impersonation of Dietrich from the film ‘Blazing Saddles’,” Collins says. “She’s Saul’s best friend. She loves to show up when Saul’s there because everything’s so lovely when Saul’s there. She has a long and chequered past.”
And she says, “Yes indeed, Saul’s as American as apple juice and twice as sweet, though he might not be as appropriate for a kindergarten class. Mona von Horne, the Belle of Berlin, is the mysterious and delicate German flower he is inexplicably best friends with.”
They say they spend a lot of time talking about each of their characters and their back stories. “They’re more than just archetypes,” Anderson says. Collins says, “They’re not complex characters,” and then she pauses for a moment and says, “Yes they are.”
Youngers plays Donna Beldonado the Midnight Chanteuse. Collins says Donna is “very dry and unimpressed,” and she says this year she is pregnant, because Youngers is expecting.
O’Neill, a member of Olympia’s Tush! Burlesque and most recently seen in Lord Franzannian’s Royal Olympian Spectacular Vaudeville Show, plays the part of Kitty Beaujolais, a “hooker with a heart of gold” and a tenured professor of medieval literature.
Kristen Carlson is new to the troop this year. She has a degree in musical theater from New York University. She performs as Lola de Sazerac, a mystery lady described as a black widow who has had several husbands, all of whom died mysteriously.
Mark Alford and Samantha Cori play the brother-and-sister act Milt and Mindy McNaughton. They are Saul’s wife’s sister-in-law’s kids and were child stars in Vaudeville.
Jokes and humorous repartee between the various characters fill out their stories and provide transitions between songs. Anderson and Collins say that although the characters are ludicrous and somewhat risqué, they do not make fun of Christmas or of any ethnic group, ie., German Jews or any other. Collins says their shows would be considered racy for a 1950s television show.
Since the first show three years ago there have been seven Saul Tannenbaum shows – six in Olympia and one in Seattle, and this year will be the third Christmas show. Anderson says he is happy that this year it falls during Hanukah. He wrote a song for Hanukah called “Rama-Lama-Ding-Dong” that premiered in last year’s “Claus for Celebration” and will be performed again this year. The show will run two nights, Dec. 22 and 23 at 8 p.m. in the Washington Center for the Performing Arts Black Box, 512 Washington St., SE, Olympia. Tickets are available on the Washington Center website at http://www.washingtoncenter.org or at the box office.
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