Oh my. When Alleyway Theatre Executive Artistic Director Chris J Handley tells you to “leave the kids at home” on a theatre night, believe him. Especially if you’re heading in to see Blue Xmas: The Charmagne Chi Christmas Special. If you don’t, the ride home will be riddled with questions from the kiddos and tomorrow you’ll get a follow up phone call from Child Protective Services.

Other than that, this performance is flat out hysterical, irreverent, and still wonderfully respectful in some ways and outrageous in other ways. And it’s all so very, very good.

Blue Xmas is being called a workshop production and is the first in Alleyway’s Alleyworks Development Program to encourage artists to create new work. If this is a workshop, it’s sheer perfection with all production elements in place, a great cast, and dead-on script.

Chi is a regular on the local theatre and comedy scene and this work is no doubt her best original work yet. It’s a total send up of the holiday specials we enjoyed as kids in the ‘60s, with a mix of sketch comedy, musical numbers, and special guests. And that’s where the resemblance ends.  To the best of my recollection, Andy Williams’ opening monologue didn’t segue into a skit about a woman’s cycle in Victorian England, nor did his lovely bride Claudine Longet don a feather boa to bump-and-grind her way thru a (great) cover of “Dominick the Donkey.” But hey, that was the ‘60s and it was a long time ago. Times change.

Director/choreographer Doug Weyand did an admirable job keeping Chi’s vision in check and moving at just the right clip. It doesn’t get better than Phil Farugia at the piano and there were some really wonderful musical moments. Nick Lama and Jen Mysliwy’s cover of “My Favorite Things” was beautiful, with some breathtaking harmonies. It’s Chi’s deadpan delivery that steals the show every time, although Lama as Sadistic Santa is a pretty close second. The night I saw the show, the special musical guests were Norm Sham and Debbie Pappas Sham and their holiday duets were grand.

Blue Xmas is onstage at Alleyway’s Cabaret to December 30. Get your tickets at www.alleyway.com. Merry Christmas!