Off-Broadway production of Item Santa draws mixed reviews

LYNN – As it turns out, Santa?s Island and New York theater have something in common: Broadway is better.Lynn funeral director David J. Solimine took his Santa?s Island, which had been thriving for years on a stretch of Broadway located in the vicinity of the intersection with Magnolia Avenue, to Magrane Square Saturday. By all available accounts, the day-long collection went well.?I?m waiting for the final count,” Solimine said Sunday night. “Larry Donahue (who dressed as Santa and joined in the car-to-car solicitation with Item Santa buckets) was very pleased with it.”About 14 people showed up ready to collect money from motorists passing by, which all goes to the Item Santa Fund. But, said Solimine, “nothing?s as good as Broadway.?Nothing will replace Broadway. They (the Lynn Police) have given us the entire city (to collect money), but it?s just like show business. If you?re off Broadway, it?s just not the same,” he said.Solimine, whose solicitation in Wyoma Square has netted the Item Santa Fund roughly 20 percent of its annual total, is doing all he can to make up for the void that was left when construction in and around Wyoma Square forced Santa?s Island to relocate.Lynn Police determined that due to the construction (workers are still cutting curbs and refurbishing the center island along the street), solicitation by foot was unsafe.At the time, Lynn Police Chief Kevin Coppinger told Solimine that he and his workers could solicit anywhere in the city and he?d make sure they were safe. He chose Magrane Square, which is at the bottom of Federal Street, where Western Avenue and the very end of the Lynn Commons merge. The location enabled his workers to solicit on Federal Street when the lights were red, and do the same on Western Avenue.Though he?s been offered other places, Solimine said Sunday he may just stick to Magrane Square rather than go to City Hall or Central Square.However, he said, “we?re game for anything. If someone wants to volunteer to go somewhere, we?re game.”Solimine also said there will be a celebrity bartender night at the Four Winds Café on Broadway, right outside Wyoma Square, on Tuesday, Dec. 23, and that Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy will participate. Proceeds will go toward the Item Santa Fund.Owner Patrick DeBoever said that a special “Four Winds Lager” will be sold, and that proceeds from every sale will go toward Item Santa. Solimine?s cut-out Christmas stockings will also be sold there as well.?We?re doing everything we can,” he said.