A WIG-PULLING, EYE-SCRATCHING
BAUBLE OF HOLIDAY CHEER

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When The Real Housewives of Orange County premiered on Bravo in 2006, I doubt anyone could have predicted the “reality” television juggernaut it would become. Over the next nineteen years the franchise has launched ten series, and assorted other spin-offs, both stateside and international, for a total of twenty-seven series (and counting). Not bad for a series whose basic concept was to take a number of bored wealthy housewives with too much make-up and bad plastic surgery and encourage them to be catty about and to each other. Really, that’s about it.

Britain Shutters, Robert Williams, David Cerda,
Anna Rose Steinmeyer, Taylor Mercado Owen and Honey West

So how do you parody a phenomenon that on its own merits is possibly the purest camp of the last few decades? Turn them into drag queens of course. Enter Hell in a Handbag, a beloved home-grown production company focused, in their own words, on “…the art of camp, parody and theater of the ridiculous.” The first show of their 24th season, The Real Housewives of The North Pole, opened quite appropriately, on a Saturday when it felt somewhat like the real North Pole outside the theatre.

Robert Williams, David Cerda and Honey West

Writer David Cerda’s concept is simple: Santa is a crook. As are most of the other menfolk at the North Pole. When the play begins, they’ve all been thrown in prison for a myriad of financial crimes leaving their wives fretting about money and maintaining the lifestyles to which they have become accustomed. Enter Bravo head honcho Andy Cohen, played by David Lipschutz with frightening accuracy: the shiny suit; the smarmy insincere smile; the vapid stare; he channels it all perfectly. It’s a marvelous performance. Andy Cohen descends upon the housewives with a proposition — all their money troubles will be solved if they sign on to be part of his latest Housewives franchise, The Real Housewives of The North Pole.

Anna Rose Steinmeyer, Britain Shutters and Taylor Mercado Owen

A teetotalling Ruth Claus (a charming Honey West, mostly underutilized as the comedic foil to the other characters), Samantha Frosty, the Bible-quoting, magic-hat hawking wife to Frosty the Snowman, and Gladys Dasher, wife of one of the reindeer are all on board. They’re joined by a younger cohort composed of Clarice (wife of Rudolph) and Suzy Snowflake. There’s also an elf who’s a sobriety expert, a beleaguered production assistant played with exquisitely exasperated deadpan by Kelly Opalko, a chain-smoking make-up artist, and a cat named Mister Miaow Miaow, who quite frankly, deserved his own stage credit.

David Lipschutz with (back) Robert Williams, Honey West,
Taylor Mercado Owen, Terry McCarthy and David Cerda

Any production of this nature lives or dies on the success/fail ratio of its jokes and I’m glad to report that the RHOTNP falls strongly on the success side. There are jokes both obvious (I saw the Anderson Cooper line coming a mile away and still laughed because of the delivery) and fiendishly clever (Opalko’s delivery of the punchline for a non-binary joke is perfection). Epstein’s Island, the Kardashians, Melania Trump, and more, are all skewered with glee.

Honey West, Anna Rose Steinmeyer, David Cerda,
Taylor Mercado Owen and Britain Shutters

Not everything works. The talking head segments — a hallmark of the reality TV genre — broadcast on two television sets in the space, mostly fall flat (except for Mr. Miaow Miaow of course); I wish they could have somehow incorporated them into the live performances instead of leaving empty space on the stage.

Anna Rose Steinmeyer and Britain Shutters

The show works best when it devotes itself to the Real Housewife show within the play, and the two younger actresses are particularly good in these portions, especially Anna Rose Steinmeyer (Clarice) who hits the sweet spot between mockery and homage, creating a character that could be inserted into the next Housewife series or best online casinos europe with only a slight toning down, with none being the wiser.

David Lipschutz and Taylor Mercado Owen

As Gladys, David Cerda (again) plays beautifully off Robert Williams’ motor-mouthed Samantha Frosty. As the most traditional — if there is such a thing — drag artist on stage (the others give relatively naturalistic performances), Gladys’s larger-than-life hauteur is a hoot. Every curl of the lip and arch of the eyebrow is perfectly calibrated and timed.

Kelly Opalko and Britain Shutters

And if all this weren’t enough, the show ends with an original Christmas carol called “Snow” that’s as ridiculously catchy as it is gloriously awful.

Great fun, this.

Anna Rose Steinmeyer with (back) Robert Williams,
Taylor Mercado Owen, David Cerda and Britain Shutters

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photos by Rick Augilar Studios

The Real Housewives of The North Pole
Hell in a Handbag Productions
The Clutch, 4335 N. Western Ave.
ends on January 4, 2026
for tickets, visit Handbag

for more shows, visit Theatre in Chicago

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