The Latina Christmas Special

Reviewed by Gray Palmer
Los Angeles Theatre Center
Through December 18

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Fans will be happy to see that The Latina Christmas Special has returned to the Los Angeles Theatre Center for another holiday run. Emigrantes, first-generation, cosmopolitas and other travelers take note, Una navidad muy especial is that lucky sort of gathering we sometimes have with friends or an adoptive family — a party that tumbles sweetly across national, cultural and gender boundaries.

Comediennes Diana Yanez, Maria Russell and Sandra Valls (with others) premiered the show in 2013. A family affair from the beginning — Russell’s mother Eva served Christmas tamales to the company — the show has kept that home-made flavor, now under the direction of Geoffrey Rivas.

There’s an abundance of toys and toy-like comic visions: Farrah Fawcett dolls, dancing Barbies, Nutcrackers, Hannibal Lector snowflakes, palmetto bugs, telenovela impressions, Bionic Woman repair stations, lessons in the use of the interjection coño and other proper holiday concerns.

The show is built around stand-up performances of family Christmas stories by the three writer/performers, Yanez, daughter of Cuban immigrants to Miami, Russell, “Mexiuanian” (Mexican mother and Lithuanian father), and Valls, Texas-born Mexican American. Popular with audiences and acclaimed by reviewers, the show is spontaneous, fresh and assured in this fourth iteration.

Make reservations quickly.

Los Angeles Theatre Center, 514 S. Spring St., Downtown LA; Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m.; Mon., Dec. 12, 7:30 p.m.; through December 18. (866) 811-4111, thelatc.org. Running time: one hour and 20 minutes without intermission.