MUSICAL NUMBERS | CHARACTERS
OPENING: DEAR SANTA — in which four eager kids write,
sign, seal and stamp their dreams for the season,
setting up the vocal and personality "types" that will
be carried through the entire show. For now, they are
filled with faith and optimism.
BRING MUMMY — a female solo in which a dainty little
girl named June asks Santa for a special gift for her
mother. It's a Shirley Temple-style turn, and she's not
afraid to tap.
THE ONLY THING I WANT IN THE WORLD — a male solo with
two backup girls, in which a little boy named Ben — raised on disco, pop and Motown hits of the '70s
— longs
for an action figure all his own. Watch out, Barbie.
WINTER WONDERING 1 — a soloist and three carolers
ponder the Big Questions associated with the season;
they appear four times throughout the show.
NAUGHTY/NICE — four kids brightly reveal their grand
acts of naughtiness, bordering on evil, but insist that
— underneath — really they're nice.
WINTER WONDERING 2 — a soloist and three carolers
return to ask more "questions in the snow."
WISH FOR A DADDY — a female solo, in the style of a
torch song, which explores the feelings of a little girl
who has been reared in Greenwich Village and exposed to
one too many show tunes. She needs a little less
Christmas, right this very minute.
DON'T BRING THE REINDEER 'ROUND — a male and female
duet expressing the wishes of a veddy, veddy, upper,
upper-class British brother and sister named Noel and
Gertie.
CANCELING CHRISTMAS — four kids explain why Santa
should avoid their neck of the woods this year; a mix of
song and confessional monologue that conjures everything
that makes the season merry and bright, including mob
riot, anti-Semitism, religious fanaticism and broken
marriage.
THE BALLAD OF THE EASY-BAKE OVEN — a menacing German
girl who is addicted to American baked goods hungers for
treats in a turn that makes her gluttony seem Weill — or, rather, vile.
SIBLING DUET — a brother and sister, Wicky and
Thuthee, plagued by juvenile speech impediments, sing a
counterpoint duet that reveals them to be at cross
purposes.
AN ELEEMOSYNARY CHRISTMAS — a male solo with two
backup singers, in a folk-pop style, in which a boy
versed in both Dickens and the Scriptures asks Santa to
end suffering around the world.
WINTER WONDERING 3 — a soloist and three carolers
return to wonder as they wander.
TRUNK SONG — four disappointed kids revisit the crap
gifts Santa brought in years past and beg him to learn
from his mistakes.
LULLABY — taking a cue from how her mother raised
her, a girl with motherhood pangs shares her hope for a
dolly with a gentle waltz.
SHOW STOPPER — a male solo in which a boy actor with
delusions of showbiz grandeur invites Santa to his
school Christmas pageant, in which he stars in the
pivotal role: Wise Man No. 3.
WINTER WONDERING 4 — a soloist and three carolers
complete their pondering, realizing the questions (not
the answers) keep hope alive (until it's snuffed out).
A spoken sequence called "THE LAST LETTER" offers four
monologues which note the painful moment each of the
four kids first realized that Santa might not be real.
This sequence of transition is both personal and
theatrical: They transform into adults and step into the
final number.
FINALE: PART OF ME — the four, all grown up and
dressed in urban black, ruefully reflect on their bitter
memories of past holidays; the act of remembering
somehow allows them to reach for a brighter future — reconnecting, on Christmas Eve, no less, with something
innocent and optimistic again.