L.A. Weekly, December 17-23, 1999
The title pretty much sums up Jeff Goode's hilarious and intelligent middle finger to
all the candy-coated commercialism of the Yuletide season. Sexual assault charges have been
brought up against Santa Claus
(whom we never see) by one of his own reindeer. But that's only an excuse for his sleigh-pulling
employees to vent. One
of the best monologues is from queer Cupid (Peter Paige), a flamboyant queen who can no longer
suppress the hurt sustained
working for the Claus family. Other notable bucks and does include Hollywood (Joe Reynolds),
an actor who hates Rudolph
for hindering his screen career; puckish ditz Dancer (Rochelle Robinson); and of course,
complaint-filer and sex-bomb
Vixen (Carlinda Ross), who refuses to go out like a victim. Much like a Gary Larson cartoon
where the humor hinges on
animals taking on human behavior, The Eight at times suffers from a kind of Sunday funnies
cutesiness, but not enough so
to mar Goode's impassioned, thoughtful writing or John James Hickey's staging. Using the small
space to maximum effect,
set designer Desma Murphy perfectly captures the world of those classic claymation Christmas
TV specials. MET Theater,
1089 N. Oxford Ave.; Thurs.-Sat., 8:30 p.m.; thru Dec. 18. (323) 957-1152. (Andrew Lentz)