Long-ago days have recently been jogged by the discovery of her mother’s scrapbook and its pages and pages of memories

San Diego theater treasure Linda Libby stands in for prolific playwright Tom Jacobson in Jacobson’s funny and loving musical tribute to his truly one-of-a-kind mother in Mrs. Christmas, now spreading holiday cheer at Long Beach’s Aurora Theater.

Decades may have passed since Jacobson’s childhood in Kandota Township, Minnesota, population somewhere in the mid-to-upper-hundreds, but “Linda Carol Libby’s” memories of those long-ago days have recently been jogged by the discovery of her mother’s scrapbook and its pages and pages of cards, recipes, craft ideas, and most especially carols, the reason stage Linda was given her middle name.

And because of Tom’s/Linda’s mom’s borderline obsession with December 25 (she started making gifts and costumes, and baking and freezing holiday treats … in July!), it’s probably no wonder she was known throughout the township as “Mrs. Christmas.”

Over the course of Mrs. Christmas’s eighty minutes, Libby (accompanied by Cody Bianchi on piano and occasionally on organ) delights audiences with over a half-dozen new carols and a few traditional ones thrown in for good measure, along with some background commentary along the way, as when Libby interrupts “I Saw Three Ships” to muse over how three sea vessels could possibly have “sailed into Bethlehem on Christmas day in the morning” when the nearest body of water is the Dead Sea twenty miles away.

Carols written expressly for Mrs. Christmas by lyricist Jacobson and assorted composers* are unique to say the least, one of them featuring the lyric, “The chicks all sup upon their mother’s gore,” another going “Eat me! Eat me! I’m such a tasty treat!” and yet another, a mash-up of The Twelve Days of Christmas and Sleigh Ride, including audience-participation sound effects.

And don’t let me forget “aspiring composer” Cody’s cacophonous “new modernist carol” entitled “The Seven Days of Solstice” and featuring lyrics made up entirely of numbers. (“Twelve twenty-seven. Seven nineteen. Sixteen thirty-two. Nine fifteen twenty-two.”) Make of those digits what you will.

Not only does our nostalgic narrator have plenty of songs to sing and anecdotes to recount, she’s also got props galore to show off courtesy of designer Jacquelyne Estrada including some gruesome (her word) apple-head dolls and a Santa-nailed-to-a-cross figurine inspired by a Japanese department window display Mrs. Christmas had apparently once heard about.

And just wait until you see the home movie Libby’s Christmas-loving mom shot after a five-year-old Linda became so obsessed with dinosaurs that Mom spent months in the basement building tiny dioramas for the collection of plastic dinos she’d scoured the town to buy.

All of this adds up to an hour and twenty minutes of tuneful (and occasionally ribald fun) under Karole Foreman’s able direction, affording audiences a glimpse into playwright Jacobson’s (Crevasse, Tasty Little Rabbit, the Bimini Baths Trilogy) rural Minnesota upbringing and Angelinos the opportunity to discover San Diego stage star Libby, about whose performance in Cygnet Theatre’s Company I wrote, “You may think you’ve heard Joanne’s iconic number before, but the sensational Libby makes it all her own.”

Add to that accompanist Bianchi, whose triple-threat performances I saluted in both Cal State Fullerton and professional productions and who now reveals considerable keyboard gifts (and a just-right scowl whenever prompted by Libby to say a word or two).

Estrada’s homey, Christmasy set has been designed to evoke holiday memories of anyone who grew up in a small town like Kandota, and it’s been lit with inviting warmth by Jon Hykras, with Augusta Avallone’s costumes and Filisha Jones’s wig giving Libby an appropriately festive look.

Michelle Merring takes over the lead (as “Michelle Carol Merring”) beginning on December 15. Anthony Zediker plays accompanist “Anthony” on December 12 and 13.

Solomon Joseph is assistant scenic and props designer and Lisa Hopperton is assistant lighting designer. John Freeland Jr. is stage manager. Judith Borne is publicist.

Whenever December rolls around, L.A. audiences are guaranteed multiple takes on A Christmas Carol and It’s A Wonderful Life and not much else that’s truly out of the ordinary, all the more reason to celebrate something fresh and new and different, and if that’s what you’re looking for, Tom Jacobson’s Mrs. Christmas more than fits the bill.

*Jason B. Varabba, Kelly Green, Christopher Hamilton, Veronika Krausas, D.W. La Puma, James McFadden-Talbot, Christopher Reiner, and David York

–Steven Stanley
December 7, 2025