Some of us are just not cut out for “comfort and joy” season. Blame antisocial conditioning or early childhood trauma. The fact remains: We would rather gargle strychnine than quaff an eggnog. Not that we’re embittered grinches! We gladly accord celebrants their tinsel, tinkling bells, matching PJs, etc. – as long as we have recourse to a sophisticated alternative: Justin Vivian Bond’s seasonal gig at Joe’s Pub. You’ll know you’ve found your tribe when Bond alludes wearily to the “forced joviality” exacted elsewhere and promises instead “a nice show to calm everyone’s nerves.”
It has been a bit of a wait for this reprise: “Since the before times,” they say, fresh off an exhausting, cross-country tour playing their antic, antiquated alter ego, Kiki DuRane, of “Kiki and Herb” fame. Bond dedicates this evening to beloved downtown voice teacher Barbara Gustern, killed last spring in an act of random violence. It’s a somber note to start off on, but also appropriate: the time of “auld lang syne” looms.
If you’ve followed Bond for years, you may sense Gustern’s contribution in Bond’s now beautifully burnished voice. It hovers lower, sometimes plunging to an unforced basso profundo (Bond leaves to Kiki the bleaty tremolo of an over-reaching aspirant). Bond’s voice now has the timber of oak-aged whiskey. At the same time, the bibulous jokes (more Kiki’s territory) have been left on the back burner. Bond does bring on three drinks of varying shapes and hues, but mostly because “I’m channeling a lot of different spirits.”
The gang spans Karen Carpenter, Chryssie Hynds, Dolly Parton, Tracy Thorn, Julie London, Kate Bush, and Rickie Lee Jones, whose “Christmas in New Orleans” will haunt you into next year, when with any luck Bond will be back – looking soignée as ever, in another elegant gown (this one, a caftan of diamanté black chiffon, gets unfairly dismissed as a clinical-depression commission – “I’m on medication now”), and with another set of nonsaccharine, soul-stirring songs.
Also, good tidings! Wednesday’s show (December 21) will be live-screened – “live-screamed” – for free (with an optional online tip jar) through Christmas Eve. Be sure to chip in. You might even dress up for the occasion.
Justin Vivian Bond: Oh Mary, It’s Christmas! opened December 16, 2022, at Joe’s Pub and runs through December 23. Tickets and information: publictheater.org
