Is Crazy Christmas crazy because of the totally implausible gathering of dead movie icons in Singapore, or is it to remind us to take time off our frenzied (aka crazy) schedules and spend this with our loved ones instead?

Let’s just say you’ll be too busy laughing to even think about this. After all, you do get Singapore’s top comedic talents.

It is the 5th installment of what could possibly be a tradition for Singapore’s musical theatre scene.

Directed by Selena Tan and George Chan, this year’s theme of “Silver Screen meets Silver Bells” brought back iconic names such as Marilyn Monroe, Charlie Chaplin, Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly.  A combination of Hollywood’s finest entertainers and Dream Academy’s secret ingredient , a local essence of quick-witted humour,  added flavour to the renowned classics

Adrian Pang who cross-dressed and somehow still managed to look cute played Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. Also adding local flavour to this fantasy adventure story, there’s Judee Tan, a “brainless” bubble tea straw girl, Karen Tan, a “heartless” condensed milk tin lady and Selena Tan, a Tiger Beer lady lacking “courage”. Hokkien witticisms were also seamlessly incorporated into the script, along with a reference to our unique culture of buying “Toto”.

Local comedian Hossan Leong played Charlie Chaplin for the night, and owned the stage with his charismatic stand-up comedy quirks we are all familiar with especially with his comical mime of “Silent Night.

The founder and director of the musical herself, Selena Tan, saved one of the most plum roles, as the major sex symbol of the 50s, for herself.

Her Marilyn Monroe impression and “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” spoof kept everyone sufficiently delighted.

Judee Tan, who also plays Dr Teo Chew Moi (TCM), a character previously introduced in other productions like The Hossan Leong Show, had one of the most memorable sketches of the evening. The Chinese physician’s theatrical awkward disposition and excessive misuse of directly translated Mandarin proverbs  brought the house down with her take on Christmas.

The main cast also performed a medley of theme songs from acclaimed Hollywood movies like Titanic, Mission Impossible, The Godfather, Jaws, Xanadu, The Little Mermaid, James Bond and more, showing off their vocal prowess, and further impressing the crowd. Micheala Therese left the audience slack-jawed when she pulled off the Cantonese theme song from The Bundwith aplomb.

Mina Ellen Kaye, Glory Ngim and Seong Hui Xian, who were also in Company, were part of the Merry Miss-el’toes who danced and sang their hearts out.

It was a reunion of the best in Singapore theatre. Featuring the enthusiastic cast of Adrian Pang, Selena Tan, George Chan, Hossan Leong, Karen Tan, Micheala Therese and Robin Goh, premier a cappella group Vocaluptuous, Crazy Christmas 2012 is a production that promises no less than tears of laughter.

To top off this family-friendly fare, the children of the stars also joined in for part of the show. Rachel Quek (Karen Tan’s daughter), as well as Xander and Zack Pang (Adrian Pang’s sons) took on numbers such as “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” and performed alongside their parents in a metal version of “We Wish You A Merry Christmas”.

There are 2 versions of Crazy Christmas this year. According to Selena in an e-mail interview, “We had Kumar in Crazy Christmas last year and everyone loved her! However, the show was R18 and many families could not bring their kids along. So this year we decided to offer the best of both worlds! Kumar in the naughty version and Hossan in the family friendly one. We wanted to make sure everyone gets a chance to spend Christmas with us! That’s pretty much the only difference.”

Combined forces from the star-studded cast brought comedic sketches, tongue-in-cheek numbers and remarkable choreography leaving the audience more than entertained, definitely chasing the Grinch out of anyone. It’s already beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Crazy Christmas is showing from Nov 28 to Dec 2 (Nice version with Hossan Leong), and Dec 4 – 9 (Naughty version with Kumar; R18) at the Esplanade Theatre. Tickets are available at SISTIC from $37 (excl. booking fee).