By Julie Stern

NEW MILFORD – I first became aware of David Sedaris some years ago when I was trying to pretend the alarm hadn’t gone off on the clock radio until gradually I started listening to this mournful voice of indeterminate gender recounting what it was like for an unemployed actor reduced to working as a Christmas Elf in Santaland at Macy’s. In response to popular demand, National Public Radio replays this segment each year during the holiday season, and it stays as funny as ever.

Now TheaterWorks New Milford, which rang in last Christmas with the satirical Reindeer Monologues, is following up with a stage version of The Santaland Diaries, adapted by Joe Mantello. Michael Gabinelli relates the sequence of events by which he metamorphosized into Crumpet the Elf.

The actor fills up 90 minutes or so with anecdotal descriptions of the Macy’s training program, his humiliatingly fey costume, motivational speeches delivered by veteran elves, the personalities of the various Santas, and the appalling nature of the crowds of bad-tempered parents waiting on line for hours to have their children’s pictures taken on Santa’s lap before heading for the rest of the store to do their Christmas shopping.

Mr Sedaris has a wicked eye for detail and a sense of the ridiculous, which make his Diaries very funny. However, when you listen to him on the radio (or according to my kids, when you see him in person) it is the perfect deadpan quality of his delivery that heightens the effect. He never laughs. His face (if not his humor) is always straight.

When we saw the show recently in New Milford, Mr Gabinelli, who is a very accomplished actor, seemed to be trying a bit too hard to milk the crowd for laughs. In part this might be because many of his friends were there in the audience and they were egging him on. Perhaps director Brad Blake might curb this tendency to better effect.

However, the show was fast paced and fun — better suited for adults than kids — and definitely a change from the sweetly sentimental tone of most Christmas shows.

(Performances of The Santa Diaries will continue at TheaterWorks New Milford on Friday and Saturday evenings through December 31. Contact the theater at 860/350-6863 for details concerning curtain times, holiday weekend performances, and an ongoing toy and food drive.)