Christmas at Christine's Reviews
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SHOWCASING ASIAN AMERICAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN AMERICAN STORIES SINCE 2003
Trust Silk Road Rising to make its very first holiday show – Christmas at Christine’s -- not only multi-cultural but free of schmaltz and glitter too.
True to holiday cabaret tradition, Chicago actor and singer Christine Bunuan fills her solo-show stocking with songs ranging from naughty to nice, sardonic to sentimental. But what Bunuan also offers in Christmas at Christine's, the first holiday show at Silk Road Rising, is her perspective as a child of Filipino immigrants.
This sweet, lighthearted holiday cabaret, written and performed by Christine Bunuan, weaves together holiday songs, some familiar, some not, with Bunuan’s recollections of Christmases past. Bunuan has a lovely voice and a winning onstage rapport with her laconic accompanist, Ryan Brewster, and her song selection, though mild, is diverting (a Jewish parody of “Santa Baby,” called “Moishe Baby,” is one the high points) . But it’s her deceptively simple stories about life in theater or visiting her extended family in the Philippines that make this show a cut above your average holiday revue. It helps that Bunuan has a very likable, relaxed stage presence and a born raconteur’s ability to make even the most mundane tale riveting.