Jingle bells, Rudolph smells, Love is in the air
Oh what fun there is tonight with PopRox Christmas cheer.

Dashing through the summer Kiwi days, we find ourselves at PopRox’s final improv show of the year, Ms Christmas Bachelorette, where we join the recently widowed Ms Claus in her search to find love again, just in time to carry out this year’s Christmas duties at the North Pole, aka Hannah Playhouse.

With their monthly shows at Circa Theatre always sold out, only Jesus can perform a miracle to get these theatregoers the hottest ticket in town, and our Ms Christmas Bachelorette (Millie Osbourne) the hottest date. Can he make magic happen? The crowd is overjoyed when Jesus appears as tonight’s glitzy host and MC (Isaac Thomas). He welcomes the excited and well-dressed crowd to PopRox’s Christmas special where we must expect the unexpected and, like Ms Claus, get ready to be wooed.

It is impossible not to be wooed with such a magical cast as Millie, Isaac, Nina Hogg, Austin Harrison, Jed Davies and Dylan Hutton, all masters of long form improv, character building and incorporating the most entertaining improv games into every show. Tonight is no exception as we meet our contestants Elfie the Elf in candy cane socks (Austin), A Sexy French Gingerbread (Nina) The Grinch (Jed) and Die Hard (Dylan).

The quest for romance is brought further to life by Lia Kelly on keys as Rudolph, who may or may not have their own secrets to hide.

The task of finding someone to co-manage Christmas with our fun feminist Ms Claus will take big boots to fill, and plenty of reality TV tropes, and so we get to know our contestants through private diary ‘to camera’ style segments, a gift challenge, and dates offered with help from the audience which have bloody and unexpected twists. These help Ms Claus eliminate the unworthy and help judge whether The Grinch is here to steal Christmas, or just Ms Claus’ heart. Is their raw chemistry enough to walk the aisle to the North Pole, or will they receive a ‘Mistle-No’.

Unsurprising to some, the bloody Die Hard dies hard, along with Elfy’s office romance, while Gingerbread’s spice is heaven scent straight to Ms Claus’ heart.

All our hearts are won over with this uplifting Christmas improv where the Christmas set design reaches as high as our spirits, as does the lighting by operator Campbell Wright and venue tech Scott Maxim.

No one can be accused or ‘j’accused’ of not falling in love with this show and we will all be ready to see these stars back in 2025. We’ll be praying for tickets so Jesus please work your magic!

(Thanks to Bethany Miller for help with this review.)

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