Review: Donnie and Marie: Christmas in Chicago (Broadway in Chicago)

  
  
Donnie and Marie:
   Christmas in Chicago 

Written/Directed by Donny and Marie Osmond
Oriental Theatre, 24 W. Randolph (map)
thru Dec 24  |  tickets: $37-$100   |  more info
  
Check for half-price tickets 
  
  
   Read entire review
  

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Showbiz siblings bring contagiously nostalgic Christmas cheer to Chicago

Broadway in Chicago presents

Donnie and Marie: Christmas in Chicago

Review by Lawrence Bommer

The once and future brother-and-sister act are spending Christmas in Chicago. No, it’s not the squeaky clean, sanitized, nostalgic-drenched show that some might have feared. In a remarkably generous, pizzazz-packed, two-hour, song-and-dance, Branson-style spectacle, Donny and Marie Osmond, spry as ever and in full, familiar voice, evoke old and new memories from almost a half century in show business. Bantering in sibling rivalry and gender oneupsmanship, they roast chestnuts for Yuletide warmth and, with contagious naturalness, reprise signature songs from their T.V., Broadway and concert heydays.

Backed up by supple performers, a hot combo, a huge Christmas tree, repeated costume changes (for Marie and the backup dancers), and three huge video screens detailing a family album of snapshots, Osmond family traditions, and filmed career highlights, Donny and Marie seem very much in their element. That’s because they have totally made themselves at home. Her big hair and his concentrated cuteness—they definitely feel cut from the same cloth, as comfortable together as they ever were in the 70s’ series.

Whether reprising classic Osmond fare (like Marie’s “Paper Roses” and Donny’s “Go Away, Little Girl,” as well as his success with “Dancing with the Stars” (thankfully no talk of Nutrisystem from Marie) or offering the latest from their new releases, nothing they do seems anything like old hat or a second chance (even though they’ve been singing together for over 25 years).

Amplified by a huge monitor that subtly exaggerates the action, there’s a “first time” sheen to almost everything in this skilled and smooth crowd pleaser.

The Christmas fare, cooked to boiling at beginning and end, includes a steaming “All I Want For Christmas Is You” and a creamy “Blue Christmas,” along with favorites from Mo-Town, the Beach Boys, Stevie Wonder and The Temptations. Donny, soon to release his 60th album(!), wonders “If Every Day Could Be Christmas,” while Marie remembers her late son with an affectingly operatic “Pie Jesu” from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Requiem. She also slides effortlessly into a tribute to the USO shows (she appeared with the late Bob Hope in Saudi Arabia) with “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy,” then croons the stuffing out of “I Can’t Wait To Love You.”

Donnie in turn remembers his brothers as, with four game backup dancers, he reenacts their dance routines from the T.V. series (so you can compare his steps today with 30 years ago—and they can bear the inspection). Again waxing nostalgic for the 40s, he and his boys do a Zoot Suit number to “Just Like a Yo Yo.” The Broadway medley features Marie reenacting Maria in Sound of Music and Anna in The King and I, while Donny rings all the recollections with a blast from his trademark Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.