Review: Sublime and Special SPENDING CHRISTMAS WITH ALICIA WITT Plays 54 Below

If you look at her IMDB page you can count 9 Hallmark Christmas movies on Alicia Witt’s resume.  If you consider the feature films Last Holiday and A Madea Christmas, that makes 11 Christmas/holiday movies that Alicia Witt is in.  So why is there no Alicia Witt Christmas album?!  Oh, wait.  There is.  Well… there is NOW.  

Alicia Witt has just released her brand new Christmas album I THINK I’M SPENDING CHRISTMAS WITH YOU and she has been touring with a Christmas show to celebrate the joyous occasion.  And if an album and a tour aren’t enough glad tidings, the film and television actress chose to make SPENDING CHRISTMAS WITH Alicia Witt her long-awaited debut at 54 Below.  Audible sigh.  Alicia Witt plays all the great rooms.  She has played the legendary (late) downtown club Rockwood Music Hall, the edgy and innovative Joe’s Pub, and the cool and casual City Winery, but the prolific singer-songwriter had yet to play Midtown Manhattan’s glorious glamorous supper club… a travesty that was corrected on December 3rd, when she celebrated the release of I THINK I’M SPENDING CHRISTMAS WITH YOU with her band and a house full of adoring fans.  A full house for Christmas?  Yes, please!

One of the great things about Alicia Witt is how accessible she is.  The tech team at 54 Below always gives great ‘welcome to the show’ announcement, gearing the crowd up for a great night of entertainment and getting the energy to high octane level.  But not with Witt in the house.  Completely true to form, Alicia simply walked out of the kitchen and up to the stage, the biggest, brightest smile on her face, so bright that it put to shame the Christmas lights that she brought to adorn the stage.  Her excitement at being there simply compounded that of her audience of fans, friends, and maybe even a famous face or two from the Hallmark acting company.  Affable Alicia just walked in, climbed the steps to the stage, grinned her grin, and copped a squat on the piano bench to launch into I THINK I’M SPENDING CHRISTMAS WITH YOU, from start to finish.  This kickass band of three opted to play every song on the album in chronological order, as the creative force behind every (original) composition paused beforehand to discuss the inspiration for each song, and name any collaborative colleagues who joined her on the journey.  The whole night was a wonderful balance of excitement and relaxation which is, again, on brand for Alicia Witt.  Oh, also, it should be noted that, right there on the edge of the piano was Alicia’s GoPro so that she could Facebook Live for all her regular watchers (the Lady has mastered the art of staying in touch with fans and followers).  In spite of the glitz and glory of The Basement, the Witt Christmas show felt very much like a living room concert, with massive amounts of laughter from all, informative and touching stories about her work and creative process, and a lot of doggone fine music, most of which she had a hand in creating.  There were a handful of Christmas classics for people to enjoy, a smart move because an entire show of new Christmas music can be alienating - people need their “O Holy Night” and “I’ll Be Home For Christmas,” but the majority of the concert (and the album) is Alicia Witt-created, and these are original compositions you WANT to listen to, learn, memorize, sing along with, and add to your playlists.  I give you my word as a cabaret reviewer and Christmas music devotee from way back when.  Sometimes singer-songwriters go all in on new Christmas music and you listen to their album and go, “Ok” and then put it away forever.  I’ve listened to the album and I was at the concert, and I can promise you this is not one of those times.  Alicia Witt has outdone herself.  Hallmark and all those quirky Christmas-loving Ladies she has played would be (should be!) proud.

For her nearly-ninety-minute show, Alicia Witt remained seated at the piano, backed up blissfully by Bass player Amanda McCoy (Guitar, too!), and Drummer Toby Caldwell, and she sang for us, chatted with us, and played that piano like the prodigy that she is.  Times during the show, it was breathtaking, watching the skill while listening to the sounds.  This is why people go to live music venues - to SEE the artist at work while hearing the sounds in real-time, and Miss Witt does not disappoint: that’s fair to say.  True to her word, Witt and co. started at the top and played the album straight through, with Alicia talking about the creation of a song of Christmas as seen from the eyes of the dogs and the cats (“Weird Time of Year”) and the all-too-real life situation of being sad at Christmastime (“Is This The Christmas,” written with Mandy Barnett) and, if a person allows themself the luxury of going on the emotional journey being told by Witt’s super-poetic lyrics, that person might find their self wondering where it is that she goes, when she sits down to write.  What is the place, how deep inside does a storyteller have to go, to mine this well of poetry in emotion?  Alicia Witt is one of the most thoughtful songwriters working today, and if it hasn’t already shown in her previous albums (it does), it really shows in works like the sultry and soulful “You’re Gonna See This Tree” and the confident but reserved “Lonely Holy Christmas” (written with Matthew Perryman Jones), both performances highlights in the evening, showcasing musical material you will want to call up on your phone, specifically, illustrating stories you will want to revisit, repeatedly..  

SPENDING CHRISTMAS WITH Alicia Witt wasn’t just a night of feelings expressed and experienced through ballads and humanity, though.  Alicia Witt is a funny girl (remember the cats/dogs Christmas song?), as evidenced by the knowing, appropriate “Soap Suds Snow” - a nod to the fake snow used in any winter-based movie, not just Hallmark Christmas movies - and “December 26th” (written with John Paul White), the world’s first holiday song about the holiday day that seems always to be forgotten, but not by Alicia Witt, and no longer by the people who buy her albums.  Both whimsical songs may not carry the emotional gravity of some of the album’s/concert’s more introspective songs but the stories they tell are just as valid, just as valuable, and just as much fun to hear, particularly because the songwriting structure is solid, the melodic lines enjoyable, and Witt’s investment in the storytelling well matched with the beauty of her voice.  For the traditionalists, the concert and the album include an “O Holy Night” of supreme beauty, thanks to a clean, pure performance that honors the authors’ original intent - it is a joy to hear the song performed without embellishment, a classically treated but emotionally charged “The First Noel,” and an “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” that doesn’t just come from the heart of Alicia Witt, it comes from the heart of the instruments backing up the vocals (Caldwell, McCoy, and Witt outdid themselves with their playing on December 3rd).    Alicia even threw in some bonus material for the show - her hit songs “Chasing Shadows,”  and “Witness,”  both of which the die-hards recognized from the opening chords (some could be seen mouthing the words, along with Ms. Witt).  This writer has to admit, though, that the excitement was in the air when we got to see and hear Alicia Witt play the best Christmas song of all time, live. “I’m Not Ready For Christmas” was such a hit that it inspired a Hallmark Christmas movie in which Alicia Witt acted and performed her song.  It has been such a popular hit for her that she plays it at every concert she does, whatever the season, because she knows the fans want it, and on December 3rd, it was her finale, and a right proper way to end an impressive debut at the club they call Broadway’s Living Room.  Here’s hoping she returns to the supper club many times in the future… but, while we are on the subject of Broadway:  isn’t it time for Alicia Witt to be in a Broadway musical? Just throwing that out there.  The time is right.  Until it happens, though, we have the Alicia Witt movies, albums, live appearances, and, for the next several days, the Alicia Witt Christmas movies.  Which one is your favorite?  Ok, I’ll go first:  The Mistletoe Inn. I love it and can’t wait til Christmas every year, so I can watch it.  I won’t wait for Christmas every year to listen to I THINK I’M SPENDING CHRISTMAS WITH YOU.  That’s going to be a year-round thing.

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Keep up with Alicia Witt on her website here, and these are her links:  Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok - I THINK I'M SPENDING CHRISTMAS WITH YOU is on Spotify here.

Find great shows to see on the 54 Below website here.

Alicia Witt will appear next at:
Dec 17 Sellersville, PA Sellersville Theater
Dec 19 Columbus, OH  Natalie's - Grandview
Dec 20 Ann Arbor, MI The Ark - Ann Arbor
Dec 21 Chicago, IL City Winery Chicago
Dec 22 St. Louis, MO Blue Strawberry STL
Dec 23 Minneapolis, MN  Dakota

Tickets to all shows are available on her website.

Photos by Stephen Mosher

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