'Trailer Park Christmas Musical' flips a middle finger at would-be Grinches

If you want to take in a holiday show but crave something more ribald than, say, "A Christmas Carol," then "The Great American Trailer Park Christmas Musical" is for you.

It's a show that gives a literal middle finger to holiday naysayers with the Act One closer, "F--- It, It's Christmas." One character gets into the yuletide spirit via electrocution. Another keeps the ashes of her death-row hubby in the same canister as her holiday cookies.

Yeah. Definitely not "A Christmas Carol."

In the heart of Trump-land, most of Armadillo Acres is getting ready for Christmas. Yet, despite the festive keg of "beer-nog" and the mudflap-lady angel decor, there is one holdout. Darlene has no interest in the season until the aforementioned electric shock leaves her with amnesia.

That gives the rest of the crew, including potential love interest Rufus, an opportunity to persuade her to change her ways.

Standing in their way is Jackie, Darlene's mean lover, who gets into a mullet-on-mullet battle with Rufus that leads to bulldozers threatening to destroy the trailer park in the final minutes of Christmas Eve.

There's plenty of bad taste, but the show also offers tinges of Christmas blues. Darlene has seen plenty of holiday heartbreak, including a biker boyfriend who died on Christmas Eve.

The six-player company embraces the crazy premise and the crazier characters, led by slightly more nuanced turns from Alex Kotlarek and Matthew Englund as Darlene and Rufus.

There are rough edges and some sloppy staging in the show, presented by Minneapolis Musical Theatre in partnership with Actors Theater of Minnesota, but its foul-mouthed good cheer wins out in the end.

Ed Huyck is a Twin Cities theater critic.