Make Someone Happy

Writer/director Buck Busfield’s new play doesn’t have a holiday theme—there’s no tinsel in sight. It’s more of a moody, offbeat romantic comedy, written with two veteran B Street actors specifically in mind. David Pierini plays a paunchy, talkative parcel delivery man who strikes up an unlikely relationship with a shy but intense young woman who’s led a very sheltered life (Dana Brooke). It’s very much a New York City story, with the recorded voice of Tony Bennett setting the mood in scene after scene. Although this is not a “Christmas play,” the slightly gritty tour through streets and clubs in the second half nonetheless invokes Scrooge’s soul-opening journey with the three ghosts in Dickens’ holiday standard, and that story’s moral core. All in all, it’s a pretty interesting trip.
B Street Theatre, 6:30 p.m. Tuesdays, 2 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays, 8 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sundays. No shows on Christmas or New Year’s Eve. $22-$30. 2711 B Street, (916) 443-5300. www.bstreettheatre.org. Through January 6.