Casey Seymour Kim is Miss Pixie in Miss Pixie’s Cable Access Holiday Extravaganza.

Peter Goldberg

It has been the fate of many a child star to fade into woodwork, or at least into the self-help book circuit. But Miss Pixie still rules — despite a string of bad marriages and stays at Betty Ford.

The ageless and resilient Miss Pixie, star of such cherished classics as Little Miss Mark-Up and Lox, Stox and Bagels, has brought her first holiday extravaganza to Pawtucket’s Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre, where for the next couple of weeks she is regaling her fans with songs, stories and appearances by special guests — or at least guests.

Why, Tony Danza almost makes an appearance.

Suffice it to say, it’s a holiday show like none other, the kind of thing for folks who are looking for something a little off-beat, something other than another Christmas Carol, where instead of “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” Miss Pixie breaks into a chorus of “Holidays in Pawtucket,” where you drink “inebriatin’ egg nog by the bucket.”

The 90-minute variety show is the brainchild of Gamm veteran Casey Seymour Kim, who developed the character of Martha “Pixie” Feingold several years ago for Perishable Theater. Since then she has expanded the role for her first ever Cable Access Holiday Extravaganza, where the audience doubles as onlookers in a TV studio.

A camera rolls as Miss Pixie breaks into song, and Karen the Intern, a funny Melissa Bowler, flits about holding up an “applause” sign when its time to shower approval on our favorite star.

While it’s an entertaining show, the humor is also pretty campy and at times a little predictable. Why was I not surprised when Chris Byrnes’ cantankerous Santa pulled a bottle from his sack and proceeded to get plastered. And did Byrnes have to tell Bowler he’d show her his “Yule log” if she came back stage with him?

But the handful of original songs, written by Kim, David Rabinow and Charles Cofone, is pretty clever, and Kim, who is a hoot, manages to keep the energy up and sustain the material.

An exception would be the trivia contest with a member of the audience (it was a burly guy named TJ on opening night.) The skit went on just too long, and the questions were not funny. They were, in fact, serious queries about holiday traditions.

The show opens with Kevin the Accompanist, played by Jimmy Calitri, sitting down at the piano and pouring himself a little holiday cheer.

Soon Miss Pixie is leading us down memory lane by unveiling pictures of past loves. The lineup includes Rock Hudson, Paul Lynde, Tab Hunter and Channel 10 television’s Mario Hilario. What do these people have in common, asks Miss Pixie? They are all second-generation Americans, she explains.

As for Hudson, she said if only he weren’t … married.

At one point Miss Pixie reprises her role of Dustbowl Becky and straps on a couple of holsters with cap guns and a cowboy hat, and serenades the audience with “December Nights of Blue and White,” when it’s Christmas for the Jews.

“No ham or bacon will grandma be makin’,” sings Miss Pixie.

One of the more clever touches of the evening was having Pawtucket mayor James Doyle appear on video in a “conversation” with Miss Pixie, who has him confused with a certain former mayor who is now on the radio.

When asked his favorite local theater, Doyle, who has been a big supporter of the Gamm, says how much he loves Trinity Rep.

While Miss Pixie was born a Jew, she celebrates everything. There is a Kwanzaa table with prizes for participants in the trivia quiz. She even makes sure there is an exchanging of gifts before the show is over. Karen and Kevin dutifully bring her bottles of booze for her present.

“Who knows you better than your enabler?” says Miss Pixie, who by then was taking swigs from a martini glass.

Kim has said the show is not for kids, not because it is so racy, but because the cultural references don’t go much past the 1970s. What eight-year-old, after all, is going to laugh at Rock Hudson’s sexuality?

Miss Pixie’s Cable Access Holiday Extravaganza runs through Dec. 23 at the Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre, 172 Exchange St., Pawtucket. Tickets are $25. Call (401) 723-4266.

cgray@projo.com