Review: Santa's Secret

It turns out even Santa and his North Pole team have been a bit naughty this year. Who knew a place so cold could get so hot.

Immersive Scene Los Angeles 2025 review

Chances are you’ve never seen a holiday celebration anything quite like this one. Picture a swinging five-piece band, a high-powered vocal performance and sexy, outrageous and risqué cabaret acts.  Add in Vegas-level dancing, lip-syncing reindeer, a bawdy drag queen host, aerialist acrobats, holiday-themed cocktails in a supper-club-cum-holiday wonderland experience - all preceded by a winterized walk-through filled with imaginatively designed seasonal sets – and, if you’re naughty, maybe even an elf spanking.  This adults-only experience isn’t a typical December visit to the shopping mall. 

Well, actually, it is, as that’s where Voss Events stages its impressive holiday production: on the 8^th floor of the Beverly Center. The usual G- Rating of the mall, it should be noted, stops on the 7^th floor.  Take the escalator up one more and you join the large crowd for a very edgy, steamy and often hilarious spectacle known as “Santa’s Secret.”  It should be called Santa’s Secrets as he’s got plenty on display, each one a bit edgier than the last as the night progresses.  If you have an open mind, you’ll love every spanking minute of it.  Immersive Scene Los Angeles certainly did.

The night begins innocently enough when you arrive.  A quick look around reveals a well-heeled crowd of diverse guests that will become a single community of satisfied revelers by the end of the lively festivities.  There are young hipsters, middle-aged couples, straight, gay and probably every persuasion in between - many dressed-to the nines - and a few wide-eyed arrivals who look like they showed up mistakenly after having visited the food court downstairs.  Everyone seems excited, and a buzz is forming in the lines.  Soon, a couple of conductors are weaving through the line checking tickets and taking early holiday-themed drink orders.  “One Wonderland, please!”  Even Alice would have ordered one for what’s ahead.

Upon admission, you receive your very own special coupon at the train depot from a friendly but discerning train station clerk, whose knowing eye will determine which special experience you’ll partake in on the 15-minute winter walk-thru that starts off the night.  Will you party with Rudolph with her energetic red nose “I provide Santa with his snow,” play a sweet game of chance with the Gingerbread Lady or maybe have some one-on-one time with the breathtaking Snow Angel.   Along the elaborately decorated route you’ll also have the option of signing your name to the naughty list (spanking included) or to the nice one (a sweet treat instead).  A Chippendales-esque Santa is also an option for any who like their Claus with a sixpack and a mischievous smile.  At the end of the trail, you’ll meet the Ice Princess, a surly-tongued, Scottish drag queen who tosses barbs and one-liners at you in a Mrs. Doubtfire-meets-Shrek brogue. The Queen will be the outrageously hilarious emcee for the full show to follow.  In fact, all of the characters you’ve just met at the fanciful, immersive stations will be part of the big event yet to come.  In other words, the real show is just beginning. 

As you step into the main performance hall, you’ll feel like you’ve been transported to 1940s Manhattan. The large room (probably a GAP in its former life) has been magically transformed into a very elegant supper club.  Each table is topped with a small cocktail lamp that bathes the room in a warm glow.  At the front of the hall a studio-quality ensemble has already begun their first set of holiday classics, performed in a jazzy, light rock style.  The singer who absolutely kills the room with each number is Emi Secrest, a recording artist in her own right, who is sequined out in her holiday best and belting out in her incredible bluesy, soulful best.  The flawless ensemble continues their set for a half-hour as the room fills with other guests just finishing their walk throughs.  If the night ended here, you would’ve already experienced a great show.

But the best is still yet to come.  Drink orders taken, snacks from the bar-menu served – anything from a soft pretzel to caviar – the lights shift as a sleigh appears on the stage.  On it is your emcee and it isn’t long before maybe the funniest drag host in history is working the room like a Scot Don Rickles.  Ice Queen tells us that there are plenty of secrets up here at the Pole and we’re going to hear and see them during the titillating show.  And, boy, do you!

In a succession of acts ranging from spot-on lip-syncing to high-end dance numbers, to stylish burlesque, to high flying aerialists performing stunts no body should be able to do, to audience secrets revealed, you’ll have to strap in to not be overwhelmed by the spectacle.  The formerly sweet Gingerbread Lady dances in eye-popping fashion before she ascends the flying pole to perform overhead, the Snow Angel drops her quiet elegance and white silky robe for her transition to a black-clad Dominatrix, at one point leading an all too willing hunky Santa around the stage on a leash, the Grinch shows up and we finally understand why he’s so mean, no sex, a sneering little-person elf stalks up the stage while dancing with some giant stuffed animals, a number of cleverly-themed dance acts – ranging from ballet to hip-thrusting street moves – offer something for everyone, then there’s….okay you get the point.  As they say, there’s much, much more to come.  And the audience eats up every wild minute of it.

One thing you learn quickly at this Voss extravaganza: They didn’t go cheap.  Every act in the show is polished, superb and fulfilling in its own way.  They’ve clearly sought out and found the best dancers, aerialists, burlesque performers, live band and singer that’s out there.  This is one holiday production that can warrant a high-priced ticket.  A quick look around the web and you’ll see the performers in Santa’s Secret have international credits, and they bring their full bodies of work – sometimes literally – to bear or nearly bare during the show.  It’s all in good fun of course and it’s nice to be reminded that not every show has to be for the whole family, even a holiday season one. 

The performers are superb, expertly riffing through song numbers, excellently choreographed dance routines – sometimes quite outrageous ones - Cirque de Soleil style moves in the air (without safety wires it should be known) often with a wink and a nod underlying humor, and not only will they blow you away during the main show, but these troopers host their interactive zones as hundreds of pass-thru guests make their way thru before the main stage production even begins. 

Special credit, though, has to be shone on Lawrence Chaney as the Ice Queen Mistress of Ceremonies.  Chaney is hilarious, fast, edgy and loveable at the same time as they work the crowd and introduce the acts/secrets over the nearly two-hour show.  And Candace Cane, who shifts from dancing Gingerbread Lady to high-flying aerialist is astounding.  The early part of the stage show is well handled with studio-precision musicianship by the band and the electrifying and soulful Emi Secrest on vocals. 

The one-of-a-kind show runs until New Year’s Eve and is a great date night out or celebratory event to share with a group of friends who are open to a sassy and slickly produced event. If you attend, you’ll never quite look at a shopping mall the same way again.

Santa's Secret

Rating: 4.0 (of 5)

Immersivity: 3.0

Beverly Center

8500 Beverly Blvd. 8th Floor

Los Angeles, CA

Select nights thru December 31st

Tickets: $69-101

Adults Only

Review by: Thom Mills

for Immersive Scene Los Angeles