Serving Some Sentiment, Straight Up or With a Twist : The Geckos Take a Holiday Swig

Some Christmas plays are heartwarming. Others are rib-tickling. Still others are time-wasting. Here are reviews of just a few of the holiday-themed theatrical offerings in Southern California.

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Sal and Amanda Gecko, lounge lizards extraordinaire, invite you into their tinseled living room to celebrate the season. As they eagerly await an invitation to play Vegas on New Year’s Eve, the Geckos share their dreams, their disappointments and their nightclub act with the audience at the Gem Theatre in Garden Grove.

They don’t share any of their well-stocked bar, but “Jack Daniels nipping at the nose” aptly describes the state of mind and humor of our over-the-top holiday hosts in “Christmas With Sal and Amanda Gecko.”

As Sal and Amanda, George Quick and Beth Hansen camp it up in outrageous wigs and costumes that go Dolly Parton and your weird Uncle Bob one better. Backed up by Terry Alaric on piano and Randy Woltz on drums, they do an accomplished job of singing badly, sliding around those pitches like sledders on freshly fallen snow. Hansen embellishes her longer notes with a vibrato like a jackhammer.

Still, the performers can’t beef up the material, which might constitute a cute skit but stretches to the breaking point here. There are no new jokes after the first couple of songs.

* “Christmas With Sal and Amanda Gecko,” Gem Theatre, 12852 Main St., Garden Grove. Thursdays-Sundays, 8 p.m.; Sunday matinees at 2:30. Ends Dec . 18. $16-$18.50. (714) 636-7213. Running time: 1 hour, 10 minutes.