10/29/2009 9:20:02 AM

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By Tom Weber

Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN 

If Charles Dickens had lived in northern Minnesota, he might have written "A Don't Hug Me Christmas Carol."

	If you go What:"A Don't Hug Me Christmas Carol" When: Nov. 5 through Nov. 22; 1:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. Sunday. Where: Jon Hassler Theatre, 412 W. Broadway, Plainview Tickets: $22 adults, $20 senior citizens, $14 students, $14 all seats on Thursday evening. (507) 534-2900.

OK, that's a stretch. In fact, Phil Olson, the author of "A Don't Hug Me Christmas Carol," a play that is set in Bunyan Bay, Minn., doesn't even live in Minnesota.

But Olson grew up here, and though he lives in Los Angeles, has never gotten the chill out of his bones. Hence his successful series of "Don't Hug Me" plays about the folks whose lives revolve around the Bunyan Bay resort.

"The comedy comes out of what situations the characters get themselves into, and not that they're from Minnesota," Olson said. "It's not all one big inside joke. You don't have to be from Minnesota to get it."

Nevertheless, "A Don't Hug Me Christmas Carol," which opens Nov. 5 at the Jon Hassler Theatre in Plainview, has plenty of Minnesota-centric humor. That might explain why the show has had sellout runs the past two holiday seasons in Minneapolis. The same is expected this year when the show heads to Hennepin Stages in Minneapolis after closing Nov. 22 in Plainview.

"We had a great time last year at Plainview with 'Don't Hug Me,'" Olson said. "We loved it there."

But it's not necessary to have seen "Don't Hug Me" to understand what's going on in "A Don't Hug Me Christmas Carol."

"I designed it so you don't have to see them in any order whatsoever," Olson said. "A lot of theaters have done the Christmas one first. They're stand-alone stories."

As might be guessed from the title, the holiday version of "Don't Hug Me" is based on Dickens'"A Christmas Carol." The story is transferred to the northwoods and involves a Christmas Eve snowmobiling accident on a frozen lake.

Songs include "The Christmas Cheese Polka,""The Wheel is Turnin' but the Hamster is Dead,""Gunner Fell Into an Ice Hole" and "I Love you More Than Football." The songs were co-written by Olson and his brother, Paul, a Twin Cities physician.

"We poke fun at the whole Dickens 'Christmas Carol,'" Olson said. "But it also has a poignant, emotional story to it."

In other words, it's Dickens with a touch of Minnesota nice -- and Minnesota ice.

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