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predictable holiday rom com the musical will be remounted with a production at the terminal theatre on toronto s harbourfront individual tickets will be on sale soon but if you want an advance jump on seats there are subscription packages at the terminal that get first dibs on tickets contact for any inquiries please message us here contact us predictable holiday rom com the musical book and lyrics by george reinblatt music by suzy wilde and george reinblatt instagram facebook youtube 3 5 stars out of 4 i m a grinch when it comes to christmas made for tv rom coms i loathe them with all my being but i thoroughly enjoyed predictable holiday rom com the musical a new show running at second city until sunday george reinblatt and suzy wilde s romp skewers all the tropes of the genre you know the story a young woman tess barao returns to her small town for the holidays without her overworked boyfriend a braatz back homes she falls in love with a charming single dad tenaj williams with a precocious daughter nikki brianne samonte but uh oh there s another woman barbara johnston who s caught his eye too you know how this all ends but this show is so endlessly charming and witty that you can t help falling in love with it until nov 16 at second city close a braatz left tess barao and tenaj williams send up holiday rom coms photo courtesy of the company predictably fun glenn sumi 14 nov 2025 the hallmark style holiday romantic comedy is so ubiquitous that it s spawned a sub genre of musicals that gently or not so gently send them up a couple of years ago we saw chris mrs a sweet and family friendly show that deserves another life and this season not one but two shows aim to entertain those who know all the beats of the formula first out of the gates is the ridiculously fun predictable holiday rom com the musical rating with a book and lyrics by george reinblatt evil dead the musical and music by reinblatt and suzy wilde after the rain critic s pick outstanding among best of the year excellent recommended or didn t work for me overworked magazine writer holly tess barao is spending the holidays away from her boorish boyfriend sam a braatz at her hometown of christmasville where townsfolk only drink eggnog and her uncle nick jonathan shaboo runs a christmas tree business that s about to go out of business soon after returning holly bumps into a handsome widower named mark tenaj williams who s got an adorable kid named heather nikki brianne samonte holly s nemesis amber barbara johnston however is also interested in mark and soon sam is on his way up to complicate things further reinblatt who also directs has great fun sending up all the tropes of the genre critiquing them with songs like the self explanatory family friendly multi activity outdoor wintertime date and talk about moral dilemmas not explored in hallmark films should i cheat he even includes a very clever audience participation bit about a former tv star who seems to be in just about every hallmark film ever made the songs are tuneful and catchy they re also very democratically parcelled out normally we don t get the povs of the secondary characters but here the rival the bro ey former boyfriend and even the kid being raised by the single dad get individual numbers speaking of which this show features some phenomenal talents i went in only knowing johnston s name she frequently collaborates with wilde and music director anika johnson but went away studying the credits of the other five wanting to see and hear more from them let s hope this show catches on and becomes an annual or semi annual tradition like the viewing of the tv films themselves at the very least i hope the producers release a cast album a bunch of the songs including the final number i got a ring for christmas deserve regular play close a festive self aware crowd pleasing predictable holiday rom com the musical at second city toronto contains more heart than you d expect a braatz tess barao and tenaj williams in predictable holiday rom com the musical photo by christie v allen the toronto theatre review predictable holiday rom com the musical at second city toronto by ross the new christmas show predictable holiday rom com the musical may arrive wrapped in the sparkly and sugarplum fairy clichés of every hallmark and lifetime christmas movie ever made but to my great surprise what s inside that gift box is far more delightful than the title suggests i expected a broad spoof centered on a one note narrative but what i unwrapped was a far more lovingly crafted frequently hilarious musical that winks at its audience while genuinely embracing the big vocal holiday spirit it pokes fun at it s a tricky balance as parody and sincerity rarely hold hands gracefully but luckily for us all director george reinblatt book and lyrics and suzy wilde music with reinblatt manage the whole christmas spirit thing with a smart light touch a wide grin and a surprisingly big saint nick heart the plot is intentionally predictable the big city magazine writer holly returns to her small town home bumps into mark a single dad and inevitably helps save the failing christmas tree lot owned by holly s much ignored uncle nick jonathan shaboo all while quickly falling in love with the handsome man she will i guess spend a lifetime with or so says the rules of this christmas town and these types of stories it s the most basic gingerbread cookie cut out plot line around and we ve seen it packaged and shipped out on those cable networks over and over again with different cutout casting but that predictability becomes the candy cane fuel for the comedy reinblatt and wilde layer in seventeen vocally impressive original songs that knowingly riff on just about every christmas tune lodged permanently in our cultural memory and they re really good songs catchy cheeky and performed with a vocal polish you don t always expect from a parody musical several numbers even had that little shop of horrors magic brilliantly blending camp charm and sharp musicality while giving performers plenty of room to glisten and shine tess barao tenaj williams and barbara johnston in predictable holiday rom com the musical photo by christie v allen what makes the show so engaging is its commitment to the bit especially in the loving hands of its two leads both decked out in full ugly christmas sweater glory superb costuming by carlyn ranusaar routledge tess barao pei s anne and gilbert as holly and tenaj williams citadel s the color purple as mark shine inside every song and gag working the material like magnificent pros with great pipes the wonderfully talented cast which also includes a braatz barbara johnston and nikki brianne samonte brings such clever energy and precision to the stage that even the most over the top tropes feel fresh again much of that polish is thanks to music director anika johnson msc otm s dr silver who keeps the score tight and vocally sharp and to choreographer kendra brophy stranger sings whose playful staging threads the needle between parody and genuine musical theatre joy add in the solid smart contributions of set and props designer meredith wolting shifting ground s ride the cyclone lighting designer gareth crew eldritch s macbeth a tale told by an idiot and sound designer michael laird factory s trojan girls and the whole production hums with a professional sparkle that amplifies the comedy rather than overwhelming it you feel the entire team having fun with the material and that spirit becomes infectious the only fault to be found is simply that the show runs a tad longer than it really needs to be a tight ninety minutes would likely have preserved its momentum more cleanly and kept us singing its christmas praises until the actual day but even when the pacing slows the show down slightly the charm doesn t the production remains consistently entertaining buoyed by its stellar musical invention and by the cast s ability to sell every wink grin and melodramatic moment with full hearted enthusiasm like the actual fantasy holiday it pokes its finger at predictable holiday rom com the musical delivers exactly what it promises and a whole lot more it s festive funny tuneful and unabashedly joyful a cheerful canadian made syrupy send up that never sneers at the genre it lampoons and with another brand new christmas spoof the upcoming the unauthorized hallmark ish parody musical waiting in the wings for me later this month i can honestly say this one sets a surprisingly high bar for holiday silliness done right it s a festive romp that knows exactly what it s doing and executes it with real skill predictable absolutely but in this case that s half the joke and all of the charm close review predictable holiday rom com the unauthorized hallmark ish parody musical at second city the royal given the same source material why do some parodies succeed while others fall flat within a week toronto audiences had the opportunity to see two musicals which parody that scourge of november to january television the hallmark christmas movie the first predictable holiday rom com had a brief run at second city the second hallmark ish the unauthorized parody musical plays into january at the royal cinema both come from impressive pedigrees the first is from parodymeister george reinblatt of evil dead the musical book lyrics music direction and after the rain s suzy wilde music the second from a new york crew direction book and lyrics from tim drucker the parody love actually book and lyrics from tony winner bonnie milligan kimberly akimbo and music and lyrics from joel waggoner of the broadway casts of be more chill and school of rock both feature leads named holly and mark who encounter each other in holly s small hometown where she s come back to visit from the big city both critique hallmark s dream in a ring box ethos where career and love rarely coexist and our heroine must make a regressive choice to ensure a specific type of societally approved happiness both counter with a message that you actually can have it all both hollies have a christmas eve deadline and both marks have a dead wife and a young daughter both plots involve climactic christmas cookie competitions and both lead characters count a disguised santa as a close relative both feature a range of pastiche songs wonderfully garish christmas sweaters and bright sprightly casts so why did the former leave me genuinely jolly and the latter while not quite a lump of coal feel like a glass of eggnog left out a bit too long yes rom com benefitted from the fact that i saw it first but that doesn t explain it completely the comparison of the dueling hallmark musicals makes the recipe for a perfect parody like that of the perfect christmas cookie abundantly clear it comes down to cohesiveness of vision trust in the audience and an understanding of the source material s popularity and perhaps even a dash of warmth for that source while still exposing each one of its flaws a great christmas cookie can be made with ingredients from peppermint to ginger to cranberries but usually not all three settling on a dominant flavour is ideal and simpler is often better similarly a parody can take aim at multiple aspects of its source material but a cohesive tone and purpose help unify it into an engaging work commenting loudly on how the source material isn t cohesive is not a get out of jail free card from providing a cohesive experience yourself milligan and waggoner s hallmark ish has a loftier more admirable goal than reinblatt s work in how it calls out the sexism of this genre of film throughout the show devoting a few songs to the topic of the artificial choice between love or career and making the constraints strangling its lead more obvious this holly a chipper alexandra clementi an up and coming businesswoman in big city comes home to help her single mother emily richardson work her 12 small town jobs without going into cardiac arrest holly chafes against her sexist pig of a boss and knows that her high school crush mark hall sean meldrum deliciously dopey is a barely literate man who s clearly beneath her she uplifts dumps work on her assistant cum best friend martha luke witt playing a variety of roles at fever pitch whom she leaves to settle the important time sensitive deal that s partly in mandarin and works to eventually subvert the script she s been given but the higher meta ambition of the script sometimes works against it getting lost in the christmas chaos that takes aim at everything from a deadbeat santa to gluten sensitivity to cheesy holiday commercials and therefore misses several opportunities the script s subplots don t add narrative tension the climactic cookie contest is a rivalry between secondary characters with no specific consequences holly s assistant handling the deal gives our lead little agency or time pressure and referenced characters like holly s absentee dad and mark s six year old daughter are set up without more than momentary payoff at best holly s mother s baking rival cookie heidi michelle thomas delivering her disney villain style song with relish could have been a terrific narrative foil for holly in showing the effects of giving up on your big city dreams but the parallel is never explicitly drawn in favour of broader jokes about gay people liking poppers even letting the unseen town moose run amok during the baking championship is an example of inserting wacky hijinks over narrative design where a simple change would have clearly tied the animal s actions to the big reveal instead of running alongside it while rom com s goal is a more straightforward parody of the beats of a hallmark film it gets them pretty pitch perfect this holly tess barao as bright and chirpy as an avenue q muppet is a magazine writer with a terrible boyfriend an appropriately smarmy a braatz and an uncle back in christmasville whose christmas tree farm needs saving jonathan shaboo provides most of the musical s sly winks and self awareness here holly must make clear choices on a timeline does she pick sam whose idea of romance is chicken fingers and skipping christmas for meetings or the christmas loving mark tenaj williams who s a little bland and credulous but a good father to his seven year old daughter should she cheat or do the right thing the cookie contest s prize will save the farm does she betray the father and daughter she s come to adore in only a few hours to find out their late wife and mother s unbeatable secret ingredient the rivalry here belongs to the lead coming in the form of high school nemesis amber a superbly snotty barbara johnston who s looking to take the cookie crown and holly s new man and isn t beyond scheming with the one she left behind each movie beat gets an examination and skewering such as the delightful and prop laden family friendly multi activity outdoor wintertime date or the explanatory i m sexy cause i ve got a kid sure things may be a bit...