Home For Christmas Review: Hannah Waddingham is Incredible But What Is It About?
Did I really compare Hannah Waddingham with Mariah Carey?
Humans love stories! Numbers can be twisted into meaninglessness and rules are just there to be avoided, bent or broken. But a good story takes us by the hand and leads us through the wardrobe into a new world. As Will Storr says in his essential book The Science of Storytelling “There’s simply no way to understand our world without stories….Stories are everywhere. Stories are us” And because we naturally generate stories about ourselves and our lives, we naturally gravitate towards and are attracted by stories that we are told.
Instagram has stories, and news reports are “ top stories” while people like me bang on about the importance of story in creative work. Visual art, music or a cruise ship cabaret show all need a story to give purpose and an emotional foundation. There is a simple reason for this: it works! I was reflecting on the importance of story after watching Hannah Waddingham’s Home for Christmas on Apple TV - let me explain!
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After a day at the Ballydehob craft fair I sat down on Sunday evening with a lovely glass of Malbec and some local cheeses on my new cheeseboard (from Beantree Woodwork) to enjoy ‘Home For Christmas’ with Hannah Waddingham. The first point to make is that Ms Waddingham is an incredibly talented actor, singer and force of nature. She has won awards for her work on stage and screen so it was a no brainer for Apple TV to invest in Home For Christmas as a star vehicle for her. The show has all the elements you would want in a Christmas special including glitzy sets and costumes, duets with special Guests (but only men strangely), a touch of comedy, and some light campery. Unfortunately, despite Waddingham’s huge talent and energy the show does not hang together as a coherent piece - even the title ‘Coming Home’ only makes a tinselly touch of sense. What was missing in this big budget extravaganza? A story!
It looks like there was an idea to tell a story which goes something like this: The show takes place at the London Coliseum which is the home of English National Opera. Waddingham’s mother was a mezzo soprano with English National Opera so, from a young age Hannah would watch her perform from one of the smaller boxes in the theatre. About three numbers into the show this story was told (beginning, middle and end), the Waddingham parents were shown and a few members of the ENO came onstage to join in a rendition of O Holy Night. Then the show continued with little snippets of Ted Lasso cast members appearing - which only made sense if you were familiar with that show - and a list of random but wonderful guests: Luke Evans, Eurovision runner up Sam Ryder, Leslie Odom Jr, a cabaret duo called The Fabulous Lounge Swingers (me neither) and The London Gay Men’s Chorus (who were absolutely brilliant).
The music’s North American feel felt strange when set against the show’s early emphasis on being ‘Home (in London) for Christmas’ For example, the song Run Rudolph Run, which featured Sam Ryder, does not resonate with a British audience in the same way as Merry Xmas Everybody or I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday. I understand the marketing reasons behind the set list but then it feels dishonest to emphasise that it is a British event and this dissonance is what makes the show harder to enjoy.
Home For Christmas might have been better off being titled a Ted Lasso Christmas which would have given a reason for the entire cast to be there. It would also have been a good jumping off point for a storyline involving the differences between a US and UK Christmas which could then resolve with a celebration of all that the two nations have in common. It’s not Dickens but it’s something! (and I’m happy to take calls from Apple TV for next year’s Christmas special!)
Home For Christmas is well performed, festive and upbeat but its incoherence left me feeling a bit Grinchy. So just to check that my renowned Christmas spirit was not failing before the first tin of Quality Street gets opened I decided to check in with the ‘Queen of Christmas’. Mariah Carey made a Christmas Special for Apple TV in 2020 and it is glitteringly glorious in its tongue in cheek campery and Festive cheesiness. It also has a simple and effective story that engages and lifts the show.
The set up for Mariah Carey’s Magical Christmas Special is “Faced with a holiday cheer crisis, the North Pole knows there’s only one person who save the day: Santa’s great friend Mariah Carey. (of course!) The Queen of Christmas creates a fabulous and star studded spectacular to make the whole world merry!”
The show came out in 2020 when we were up to our necks in the pandemic and many people who celebrate Christmas were not feeling it! So Santa’s elf-secretary calls Maria on her special red sequinned Christmas iPhone and asks her to put on a Concert that will make the world merry again. Great line here as well
Elf to Mariah “Do you have any idea of your set list?'“
Mariah “Well I know at least one song .…!”
Mariah goes through various adventures on her quest to save Christmas and performs a song with Jennifer Hudson and Ariana Grande and another with Snoop Dogg and Jermaine Dupri. The elves take a break from work to watch the sublime Misty Copeland perform the Sugar Plum Fairy solo and there are cameos from Bette Midler, Heidi Klum, Millie Bobby Brown, Snoopy, Charlie Brown and the Peanuts Gang. In the end the world’s Christmas spirit rises to Festive levels, Christmas is saved and Mariah can sing “All I Want For Christmas Is You” which is what we’ve all been waiting for!
It’s not Shakespeare and it’s not Neil Simon but it does provide a structure, forward momentum and a reason for each element in the show. We never doubt that Mariah will save Christmas but we do want to see how she does it. With Home For Christmas we never doubt that there will be additional special Guests but we don’t know why they are there. After about 20 minutes I started to wonder what the point of the show is and when it will start to make sense.
Home for Christmas is an enjoyable seasonal show. Hannah Waddingham is an incredible performer who is surrounded by wonderful talent on stage and in every department except writing. This feels like a missed opportunity to use the talents of one of the greatest actors of our generation to tell a wonderful, and engaging story that would have elevated the show so much.
Home For Christmas reminded me of the time I worked with a young visionary London theatre director on a project for a cruise line. I took him onboard to watch a cruise ship show so he would better understand what we were trying to create. The show we watched was high energy, featured an incredible cast and had stunning visuals. After the show he turned to me and said “It’s really good, I loved it but what the f**k was it about?!!”
Happy Holidays!
Hannah Waddingham’s Home for Christmas is available now on Apple TV
Mariah Carey’s Magical Christmas Special is available now on Apple TV
My new cheese board came from Beantree Woodwork. Check out their FB page here:
