Meg Flather and Lisa Viggiano
real joy 2025
Urban Stages, NYC, December 10, 2025
Reviewed by Alix Cohen
Photos by Stephen Hanks
“You loved it as a kid/Now you need it more than you ever did” (“Joy” by Tracey Thorne) Meg Flather and Lisa Viggiano earnestly sang to open their annual holiday antidote. The show’s origin dates back to Flather’s “not feeling it” in 2017. “Wouldn’t it be great to tap all the colors of the season?” she asked.
“When Broadway songs become holiday songs they don’t say anything about the holidays,” Meg noted, which led into her understated “My Favorite Things” (Richard Rodgers/Oscar Hammerstein II). The undulating arrangement added texture and momentum.
Viggiano’s contemporary “Miracle for Christmas” (David Friedman) referred to Santa’s having brought her Prozac: “Rejoice the season I’m surviving/And wonder of wonders, I don’t doze when driving.” A case of stoned giggles enhanced the number.
Between several selections, a lyric from “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” (Johnny Marks) was proffered by one of the singers but distained by the other. “A-for-effort,” they seemed to say. Flather’s uber-cheery “Mame Medley” (Jerry Herman) certainly should have done it. A tandem “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” (Walter Kent/Kim Gannon) and “Hard Candy Christmas” (Carol Hall) was palpably melancholy, then cynical and resigned. This is not your mother’s Christmas special. The pairing of the two meshed well.
Flather talked about being alone in a walk-up, having left her first husband with the clothes on her back. The evocative “It’s About Time” is one of her best original songs: “I’ve never been young/I don’t want to waste my prime/It’s about time.” She exuded hard-won determination.
Viggiano countered with empty-nest syndrome as illuminated by “Stop Time” (David Shire/Richard Maltby Jr.). There was a catch in her throat as she all but conjured up a child. Life happens even during the holidays. Both made the songs sound personal.
Tracy Stark’s rendition of “Santa Ho” (Paul Rogers) was a hoot. Santa now only goes, “Ho, Ho…” “Where’d the other Ho go?” she had the audience adding on cue. Her own “Perfect Christmas” added her to “the ranks of Jewish songwriters who have written about the holiday.” It was a little bit country, pretty and accessible. It evoked a scene of waking up to snow. One could almost hear a choir come in.
“Calling All Angels” (Jane Siberry) and “Oh Holy Night” (Placide Cappeau) held hands as did the performers. Both looked up and away to hope. The evening closed with everyone singing “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” (Fred Coots/ Haven Gillespie).
real joy was dark and then resilient, expressing what many experience this time of year. The three-way mutual admiration warmed the stage. The cabaret community filled the audience in support. Tracy Stark was also the MD/pianist, and Lennie Watts directed the show.
