by Matt Smith . . . .
“It’s the holiday season / and Darren Criss is comin’ round / His Christmas show has just hit the ground / Good evening, New York, I just got into town / And I’ll be coming down the chimney tonight!”
Yes, the smokestack may be metaphorical, but earlier this month, to an explosive din that would put even the Swifties to shame, the inimitable Darren Criss arrives at New York City’s Town Hall, slinking his way through the crowd and onto the stage.
Radiating Christmas spirit and energy from the jump, he runs through a catalogue of Christmas classics, each revamped with a uniquely—and exclusively—Darren sensibility. Of note, if the festive theme weren’t already apparent, he stands front and center on a stage outfitted with tinsel, trees, and all the Christmas trimmings; a snowflake lighting pattern shines from overhead (we’re walkin’ in a winter wonderland from the moment we walk into the room). Yet, despite the holly jolly aura in the air, with a smoky haze enveloping the room, and multicolored lights shooting out from the sides of the stage, it’s clear the atmosphere effuses a true “rock concert” vibe all the way.
The set list, for one, takes us (literally) all over the map – from France to Ireland to England to the US – ‘cause the holidays, as Criss explains, like family, extend across to all genres, collectively brought together over this wonderfully warm and wintry time of year. In introducing these songs throughout the evening, he speaks of his affinity for the Northeastern New York accent, describes his dad’s infatuation with English Christmas goose, and affects a French accent for a song with a Parisian flair.
And though the evening, billed as a promotional tour to publicize his acclaimed 2021 holiday album, A Very Darren Crissmas, is aptly heavy on the Yuletide tunes, he knows where he is (and who’s watching) and in an effort to appease the mega-fans in attendance, he throws in an original to conclude (and then encore) the night.
Indeed, this isn’t your ordinary Christmas concert, in part because the album it’s promoting isn’t the most ordinary Christmas album. Aiming to “reintroduce familiar songs in a new way,” while also tweaking lesser-known gems with a tinge of tonal or seasonal familiarity (again, tossing in an original amidst an ample amount of audience participation), we know from the first note that “Criss-mas is here again” in the fullest sense of the word.
“It’s the most personal thing I’ve ever made musically,” the performer says, tying the tunes to significant moments and treasured holiday traditions in his life.
Of note, in addition to a smattering of the classics he grew up with, Criss includes “Welcome Home” from the 1950s musical Fanny (the first musical he was ever part of) to emphasize the importance of always having a place to come home to – a concept especially pertinent during the holidays – tweaks the lyrics to Ahrens and Flaherty’s “All Those Christmas Clichés” (a seasonal relic in itself) to list his favorite things about this time of year, and revamps Joni Mitchell’s “River” with a mesmerizing Motown twist.
Of course, he also performs a plethora of tunes in the signature swing-jazz style we’ve come to know and love him for; a top-notch snazzy, jazzy redux of “The Man with the Bag,” and a funky fresh ode to the holiday’s favorite hippo are among the highlights.
And, inundated by country music while recording the album in Nashville, he even throws in a self-written, country-inspired ode to those post-holiday blues, when we’re cozied up the fire post-party, unwinding after all the guests have gone.
Musically speaking, he shares the recognizable sonic cues of Christmas music (“You can make any song a Christmas song if you add sleigh bells!”), while making time to showcase his first-rate musicians (especially a certain soloist with a soothing sexy sax), pulling out a kazoo, and later, taking his own turn on the keys.
He’s equally at home with his audience – likening their copious applause to “a warm hug and a shot of whiskey” – and takes care to ensure they’re comfortable, too: in between songs, he moderates multiple rounds of Q&A, initiates a raucous call-and-response in more than a few numbers (and a lively dance-along in another!), admits to shouting buzzwords like Glee and Starkid to hide his own nerves or get himself out of awkward situations, and genuinely thanks the crowd for choosing him in a city with “no shortage of culture or cool s**t dripping from every pore.”
His banter game is big as well. In addition to his audience addresses, he embraces his inner nerd, interjecting each song with fun facts (pointing out a particular imperfect rhyme in one tune) and schooling us on Christmas trivia (Did you know “Jingle Bells” was written as a Thanksgiving song, detailing the horse-drawn trip a family would take post-turkey devourment?)
And while some – including Criss himself – may say it’s “a little too much TedTalk” baked into this scrumptious holiday feast of an evening, it’s Darren’s way of being authentic with his audience. Plus, it helps immensely in contextualizing these songs, supplementing them with history you wouldn’t necessarily glean from solely listening to the album.
Finally, acknowledging Western culture takes notice of “remembering the s****y things a little better….things that were disappointing, things that hurt, things we lost, the things that didn’t go the way we hoped…” he ends encouraging us to focus on the positive, asking, “What have you done? What have you accomplished this year?”
“Anything you’ve done to procure food on your table, clothes on your back, gas in your tank, and a roof over your head….deserves acknowledgement and recognition,” he asserts, effectively reminding us that “people have done far more for other people and for themselves by the end of the year than they give themselves credit for.”
Taking a cue from Regina Spector’s “New Year,” whose lyrics detail a single woman on New Year’s Eve who’s “just glad she gets to be around / to see another Spring come to this town,” he adds that we should aspire to, while not losing sight of the past entirely, refrain from stewing in the negative: “remember what we do have and be grateful for the things that we did manage to do, and how those things can, and will, propel us into the new year.”
With that, acknowledging newbies and longtime diehard fans alike, he claims his goal for the evening is to be somewhat “additive, constructive, and/or positive to your life,” hoping his audience leaves “a little merrier than you were when you came in.”
That much is achieved. While the events of December 25 in actuality remain to be seen, we can certainly say, in the case of our evening out at the Town Hall, we’ve had ourselves “a merry little Criss-mas now.”
Darren Criss: A Very Darren Crissmas, played the Town Hall (123 W. 43rd Street) earlier this month, as part of a multi-city tour that continued throughout the season. His album, off the Decca US label, is available wherever music is sold or streamed. For more information, visit www.darrencriss.com.
Photo Credit: Marco Antonio, Bailey Delahanty, Javi Morgado
