With 'Christmas in Mistletoe Falls,' Savannah Cabaret offers irreverent parody of holiday movies

It’s that time of year when our TVs and iPads are playing all our favorite holiday movies. This is also the time of year when people like to make fun of these lighthearted, low-stakes films.

One person who is tired of the memes and parodies is the producer and writer for Savannah Cabaret, Rick Garman. On top of writing campy musicals filled with pop hits, drag queens, and a few bawdy jokes, he’s also written quite a few feel-good Christmas movies that you may have seen.

“I've been involved with 17 [Christmas movies] on some level over the last seven years. When you write movies like this, people make fun of them a lot. There's a lot of parodies and memes, and I get sent things all the time by people. It gets a little old, and I finally decided who better to make fun of these movies than the person who writes a lot of them.”

Garman said Savannah Cabaret’s upcoming “Christmas in Mistletoe Falls” on Dec. 15-17 at Club One will be both a loving send-up and an examination of the tropes we all love or hate.

“In a lot of those parodies… you can sort of get the feeling that the people who have created them don't like these movies. There's almost a mean-spiritedness about it. I won't say that I love Christmas movies. They're not my number-one go-to, but since I work in them, I understand their benefit.

“I think this parody, while very irreverent, has a bit of a heart to it and helps embrace what people love about these movies as well.”

Garden Guy: It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas all year with the North Pole arborvitae

Snow?: Savannah has only had one white Christmas. Do you remember the historic day?

The Plot

“Christmas in Mistletoe Falls” follows Mary Christmas, the hardworking career woman who moved away to the big city, returning to her hometown.

“She finds out that her company is going to tear down the Mistletoe Falls General Store and build a factory, and it's going to ruin Christmas.”

Now Mary must join forces with the attractive shopkeeper Dash Ingtrudasno as well as a cast of the usual holiday movie characters to save the general store.

“In a typical Christmas TV movie, Mary and Dash would work together to save the town and fall in love in the process, and it would all end in a kiss. But, this being a parody, once Mary arrives in town, things start to go wrong and all of the tropes of these movies start to break down.”

Christmas cookies crumble, presents aren’t wrapped correctly, supporting characters start to take on more prominence, and now everyone is smoking and drinking. Instead of simply trying to save the general store, these characters are now trying to save their reality.

“It raises a question of do we want to fix it? Is it okay if characters have a beer in one of these movies? It sort of skewers and breaks down the clichés of a Christmas movie, but then looks at why those clichés exist.”

'A very irreverent parody' of Christmas movies

As always, audiences can expect plenty of their favorite songs to be interwoven into the show. “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas,” “Winter Wonderland,” “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” and “Last Christmas” are just some of the more than two dozen songs that will be performed.

There will also be a cocktail hour before each show with themed cocktails, photo ops with Santa, and carolers. In keeping with the theme of the show, this will not be your typical cocktail hour.

“Let's just say they're not going to be the best caroling group in the world.”

Since the shows is being performed at Club One, it is a 21 and up venue. Also, Garman emphasized that this will be a very irreverent parody of Christmas movies. That means plenty of drinking, swearing, and hooking up.

“Everybody who's read it thinks it's like the funniest thing that we've ever done. I think that embracing what I do and putting a parody spin on it is going to be a lot of fun.

“I'm so lucky to have such a group of talented people who willing engage with my folly in these silly shows that we make.”

December is a big month for Garman because his newest Christmas movie, “Christmas on Cherry Lane,” premieres 8 p.m., Dec. 9 on the Hallmark Channel.

“It's a much different kind of Christmas movie than what people normally expect. It’s the one that I'm most proud of in my entire career.”

Even though he’s having a little fun with his regular job, Garman said he understands why Christmas movies are so popular.

“One of the things that I've always said about these movies is they are comfort food. In a world gone mad, having two hours in a charming small town, and there's no crime, and nobody ever dies, you know the main couple is going to end up together, and it's going to end in a kiss; having that kind of comfort is like a warm blanket.

“For two hours, you can shut out the world, and sure it might not be the most realistic thing, but the stories that we tell in these movies, they make people happy and what's wrong with that?”

If You Go >>

What: Savannah Cabaret presents “Christmas in Mistletoe Falls”

When: 7 p.m., Dec. 15; 3 p.m., Dec. 16, and 7 p.m., Dec. 17

Where: Club One, 1 Jefferson St., Savannah

Tickets: Start at $25

Info: SavannahCabaret.com

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah Cabaret parodies those sappy Christmas movies we all make fun of