PASADENA, Calif. — Not every holiday show has a song about ringworm, but then again, not every holiday show comes from what actor George Salazar describes as the “magic, brilliant” brain of Sam Pinkleton. 

The Tony-nominated choreographer is not known for taking a traditional approach to anything, As co-director and choreographer of “Head Over Heels” in 2021, he helped welcome audiences back to Pasadena Playhouse with a fully immersive disco ball of a party and judging from the shiny streamers that line the century old theater’s lobby, that party is about to continue.

So what exactly is “Pasadena Playhouse Holiday Spectacular”? The very serious Olivier award-winning Lesli Margherita put it this way: “Spectacular chaos. Spectacular holiday cheer. Spectacular what-are-we-seeing-on-stage?”

For one thing, four incredibly funny and talented performers, who Salazar worries are at risk of losing their voices from making each other laugh so much. Suffice it to say, they are having fun.

“Almost too much fun,” actor MaryAnn Hu said.

“Yeah, never-ending fun, if that’s the thing,” ” added Jason Michael Snow.

“It’s the most fun, honestly, I’ve ever had doing a show,” Margherita admitted. “If you see me, turn to the back wall. It’s because I’m laughing. And that’ll happen a lot.”

There is a back wall — the actual back wall of the historic theater — but there’s no fourth wall. 

This is a very interactive kind of show that allows audiences to see the holidays through Sam Pinkleton colored glasses. He is thrilled to be back at the Playhouse because even with their shiny new Tony Award, he says, they don’t take themselves too seriously.

“It feels like making a show with your favorite people in the world for your favorite people,” he said. “When you work at theaters that are this beautiful and this fancy and that have Tony Awards, it can feel really unfriendly. And this place, I believe them when they say like, they’re a community organization.”

(Spectrum News/Tara Lynn Wagner)

He and co-creator and writer Randy Blair set out to make a jolly, somewhat deranged holiday show that they say will appeal to two distinct camps: people who love holiday shows and people who hate holiday shows. 

“A holiday show sort of in the style of a Christopher Guest mockumentary,” Blair explained. “So we have a lot of high jinx, a lot of things going wrong. A lot of things that you maybe won’t expect to happen will happen.”

“Something that feels in its way a little like a party,” Pinkleton added. “So yes, there will be confetti. There will be streamers. There will be a mess. There will be things flying overhead. There will be lots of surprising props. There will be, possibly, inflatable dinosaurs.”

Not to mention more Easter eggs than you’d expect in a Christmas show. The stage is populated by props and set pieces from so many Pasadena Playhouse shows gone by that true fans will likely find themselves playing a sort of theatrical version of “Elf on the Shelf.”

What they won’t find, however, are the usual trappings. There are no sugar plum fairies or kick lines in this holiday spectacular, but there will be interpretive dance, small budget special effects and George Salazar singing Kate Bush.

It’s unorthodox, sure, but Pinkleton says it’s from the heart.

“I hope the people of Pasadena realize that this thing, as chaotic and crazy as it is, this thing is like a love letter to the community here,” he said.

“We really wanted it to feel like a big hug from us to the whole community of Pasadena,” Pinkleton said, adding that as unconventional as it may feel, the message at the center is a universal one.

“Maybe you don’t need all of the expensive, fancy holiday stuff that we get obsessed with,” he said. “Maybe actually all you need is each other because every story is secretly ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ and you had what you needed the whole time.”