By Bart Greenberg***Actor, singer and impressionist, Christine Pedi, returned to The Laurie Beechman Theatre for the 18th consecutive year with her program Snow Business. It was a delightful mix of standards, humor, sentiment and spot-on celebrity imitation. The audie
nce was alerted to the uniqueness ofthe evening when the introductory announcements were delivered by Mrs. Santa Claus, before Pedi joined music director Matthew Martin Ward for an energetic version of “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” (Edward Pota, George Wyle). Between tossing marshmallows to the audience and describing the vibrant reds on the stage as looking like “a brothel at the North Pole,” it was difficult to tell who was having more fun: the singer or the attendees.
Her first set of impressions held some wonderful surprises in the combinations of stars and their numbers. I don’t think anyone has ever envisioned Bette Davis singing “Santa Baby” (Joan Javits, Philip and Tony Springer); Pedi did and turned it into a comedy highlight. Then, just to be ecu
menical, Judy Garland dropped by to deliver the traditional “I Have a Little Dreidel” while daughter Liza belted out “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” (Tommy Connor), until she got sidetracked talking about her proud heritage.
The star took some time as herself to perform a very tender “Count YourBlessings” (Irving Berlin). She also paid tribute to the new Pope, Leo XIV, with an uproarious “The Vatican Rag” (Tom Lehrer). Then returning to the more serious side, she offered a beautifully done “I’d Rather Be Sailing” (William Finn).
More inventive impressions included Oprah singing “My Favorite Things” (Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II) and Katharine Hepburn braying “Angels We Have Heard on High” (traditional). The there was Joan Rivers declaiming the traditional “O Christmas Tree” and a brilliant interpretation of Barbra Streisand jazzing up “Frosty the Snowman” (Walter “Jack” Rollins, Steve 
Nelson). A moving and darker “Laughing Matters” (Mark Waldrop, Dick Gallagher) and “The Perfect Year” (Andrew Lloyd Webber, Don Black, Christopher Hampton) followed to bring the show to a close—except for the piece de resistance, a gleeful attack on the traditional English carol/nursery rhyme, “The 12 Days of Christmas,” complete with audience participation, improvisation, and a special celebrity for each day, with appearances by: Dame Maggie Smith, Joan Rivers, Rosie O’Donnell, Eartha Kit, Fran Drescher, Bernadette Peters, Dame Angela Lansbuury, Ethel Merman, Liza, La Stritch, Dame Julie Andrews and Patti Lupone. Sheer and total joy—that’s what Pedi gave her audience for Christmas.
Photos by Bart Greenberg
