WATERTOWN — After swimming in angst, we want to bathe in nostalgia. After munching on meat and potatoes, we crave a little dessert.
That appears to be the reasoning behind “New Rep’s Darling Divas Deck the Holidays,’’ a holiday cabaret at the New Repertory Theatre that stars Bobbie Steinbach, Kami Rushell Smith, Michele A. DeLuca, and Aimee Doherty.
With its mixture of holiday songs, readings from stories such as “The Gift of the Magi,’’ personal reminiscences, and banter among the performers, “Divas’’ is a pleasant enough seasonal diversion.
But does it have to contain such done-to-death tunes as “Let It Snow’’ and “The Christmas Song,’’ which resist the most ardent attempts by singers to resuscitate them? And is that “Darling’’ in the title strictly necessary?
OK, enough Grinchiness. At this time of year, there’s room for a family-friendly, sentimental-verging-on-corny show that wears its heart on its sleeve. Besides, Steinbach’s drollery keeps the sap from rising too high.
Right off the bat, the veteran performer underscores the age difference between her and the three younger singers. She asks them if they recall those classic televised holiday specials of yore, and they, feigning ingenuousness, say sure, then pipe up with some names: Madonna, Britney Spears, the Backstreet Boys.
With a sigh, Steinbach responds that she has in mind singers of a different vintage — Perry Como, Judy Garland, Bing Crosby — which leads into “Little Drummer Boy’’ by Smith and DeLuca that is inspired by the famous duet between Crosby and David Bowie.
Smith is an appealing performer who projects considerable personal warmth, but she needs to turn up the volume a bit. Her delivery of songs such as “All I Want for Christmas Is You’’ and “O, Holy Night’’ was too soft, given the size of the Charles Mosesian Theater. (The New Rep’s Black Box Theater might have been a better venue for an intimate cabaret show like this.)
A similar problem afflicted DeLuca’s rendition of “Baby, It’s Cold Outside’’ with keyboardist Todd C. Gordon (who is also the show’s music director). But DeLuca manages, against all odds, to infuse “Jingle Bells’’ with fresh life by greatly speeding it up, demonstrating deft comic timing.