If you enjoyed The Greatest Showman but wished it had gone the whole hog and just been a Christmas movie, Jingle-Jangle: A Christmas Journey is the one for you. With showtunes by a team that includes John Legend and a selection of colourful frock coats to make grown men (and women) weep with envy, this new musical has all the same sparkle and sentiment as that hit – though also some of the same pacing problems.
Framed by a Christmas story that Phylicia Rashad reads to her grandchildren, this follows a young toymaker, Jeronicus Jangle (initially played by Justin Cornwell), who creates marvels in a quasi-Victorian, steampunk fantasy. Until, that is, he is betrayed by his apprentice (initially Miles Barrow) at the behest of Jangle’s creation, a toy Don Juan voiced by Ricky Martin. Worse, Jeronicus loses his wife (Sharon Rose) soon after. He struggles with the twin blow for years, becoming estranged from his daughter (Anika Noni Rose) and growing into Forest Whitaker, while Guftofson becomes Keegan-Michael Key and gains fame and fortune with his stolen inventions. It takes the arrival of Jangle’s perky granddaughter Journey (Madalen Miles) to get through his gruff, protective shell and, perhaps, set things right.
Some story elements may drag, but there’s glorious eye candy and ear candy here.
Cornwell and Sharon Rose are talented actors and singers, but we could have polished off the first act more briskly, from a storytelling point of view. It takes an age for Journey, our real heroine, to appear, though she’s cute as a button and in fine voice when she does. The adorable robot she coaxes back into working order, the Buddy 3000, accordingly also plays too small a role to become the childhood favourite he seems designed to be, and anything resembling action begins extremely late in the day.
That said, it’s great to see a white Christmas that’s a lot less white than usual, a full-colour Nutcracker. Some story elements may drag or droop like last year’s tinsel, but there’s glorious eye candy and ear candy here to compensate.
