Ann Kittredge: You Sleigh Me

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Ann Kittredge

You Sleigh Me

Chelsea Table & Stage, NYC, December 3, 2025

Reviewed by Jacqueline Parker

Photos by James Gavin

Ann Kittredge

To celebrate the release of her holiday album You Sleigh Me, Ann Kittredge gathered some of the finest talent around to help get the holidays started. What a party it was; a most memorable way to begin the holiday season. Appropriately, she began with “Sleigh Ride” (Leroy Anderson/Mitchell Parish), whose lyrics painted the quintessential holiday picture in one’s imagination, especially when it was followed by “A Place Called Home” (Alan Menken/Lynn Ahrens).

Karen Mason

Just as the audience was visualizing a roaring fireplace, a shimmering Karen Mason took over to deliver a pre-code (so to speak) version of a song about the man who comes down the chimney: “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town” (J. Fred Coots/Haven Gillespie). With her signature facile yet nuanced body movements, Mason made it quite clear that naughty was definitely on the agenda for Christmas Eve.

Paul Rolnick

Paul Rolnick, Mason’s husband and an accomplished producer and songwriter, performed a tune he wrote with Henry Cory, “It’ll Be Christmas Before You Know It” (so much talent in that family!). Kittredge followed with the touching number, “Each Ornament Has a Story” (Randy Klein/Matthew Hardy), with Klein at the piano. A familial feeling was emanating from the stage, and Kittredge enforced it with a medley of polka songs from her childhood.

Brent Barrett

To further delight her audience, Kittredge imported Brent Barrett from Las Vegas to join her in “Lovers on Christmas Eve” (Cy Coleman/Michael Stewart). Barrett also sang a number he wrote with Bernard Blanks, “Christmas Mornings.” Surprisingly, Kittredge chose a lesser-known number from Irving Berlin’s score for White Christmas, “Snow.” It was a prelude to another set of lyrics Berlin had written for Call Me Madam which were never used:“Free,” which elucidated how grand it was to be a citizen of the United States.

Jeff Harnar

Jeff Harnar rounded out the quartet of talent Kittredge had invited for the evening and delivered a startlingly moving version of the “The Little Drummer Boy” by Katherine Kennicott Davis. Frankly, this is one holiday number that I don’t care for, or should I say heretofore didn’t care for. With his ability to coax every droplet of meaning and emotion from the song, Harnar’s rendition almost commanded attention to the message of this classic. It’s now in my top-ten list.

The skillful hand of Barry Kleinbort was evident in the direction of this show, music director Christopher Denny was at piano along with Mary Ann McSweeney on bass, and Rex Benincasa on drums. With cameos by Randy Klein and Alex Rybeck, our musical Christmas stockings were overflowing!

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Jacqueline Parker

Like Ethel Merman, lifelong New Yorker Jacqueline Parker began her career as a stenographer. She spent more than two decades at the city's premier public agency, progressing through positions of increased responsibility after earning her BA in English from New York University (3.5 GPA/Dean’s List). She won national awards for her work in public relations and communication and had the privilege of working in the House of Commons for Stephen Ross, later Lord Ross of Newport. In the second half of her career, Jacqueline brought her innate organizational skills and creative talents to a variety of positions. While distinguishing herself in executive search, she also gave her talents to publishing, politics, writing, radio broadcasting and Delmonico's Restaurant. Most recently, she hosted Anything Goes! a radio show that paid homage to Cole Porter and by extension the world of Broadway musicals and the Great American Songbook. Other features of the show were New York living, classical music, books, restaurants, architecture and politics. This show highlighted the current Broadway scene, both in New York and around the country through performances and interviews with luminaries including Len Cariou, Charles Strouse, Laura Osnes, Steve Ross and Joan Copeland. Her pandemic project was immersion into the life, times and work of Alfred Hitchcock, about whom she has written a soon-to-be-published article. Jacqueline has been involved in a myriad of charitable causes, most notably the Walt Frazier Youth Foundation, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Sisters of Life, York Theatre, and the New Jersey Shakespeare Festival. She is a proud Founder of Hidden Water. Her greatest accomplishment is the parenting of her son, a lawyer specializing in mediation. She has many pretend grandchildren, nieces and nephews, on whom she dotes shamelessly, as well as a large circle of friends to whom she is devoted. Her interests in addition to theater and cabaret are cooking, entertaining, reading, and spending time on Queen Mary 2.