THEATER REVIEW
“A Christmas Carol”
Grade: B-
Through Dec. 24. 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays (excluding Dec. 24); 8 p.m. Fridays; 2:30 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 2:30 p.m. Sundays; 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Tuesday (Dec. 23 only); 7:30 p.m. Sunday (Dec. 21 only); 2:30 p.m. Wednesday (Dec. 24 only). $17.50-$72. Alliance Theatre, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree St. N.E., Atlanta. 404-733-5000. alliancetheatre.org.
Bottom line: Lavish but listless.
To paraphrase one character in “A Christmas Carol,” there are other measures of wealth besides gold or silver.
Based on the pure spectacle of its production values, the Alliance Theatre’s 25th annual staging of the Charles Dickens holiday classic is an undeniable feast for the eyes. But, as food for thought or for the soul, in terms of being a very compelling or emotional version of the famous morality tale (adapted by David H. Bell), the show is less substantial.
It’s the oft-told story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a greedy geezer in Victorian-era London. Visited and guided by a number of transfixing spirits one Christmas Eve, he ventures down a path to redemption and awakes the next morning a changed man.
Despite director Rosemary Newcott’s casting of a new actor — David de Vries inherits the role of Scrooge from Chris Kayser, who played it for the previous 16 years — and notwithstanding all the theatrical pomp and circumstance, there’s a certain ho-hum aspect to the production. It often feels too practiced, more courteous than genuinely warm, as if it were being delivered by rote.
Perhaps it’s also time to retire Bell’s script for another take on the story. Lengthy scenes involving the banter between Scrooge’s servants and debtors, or a dinner party held by his nephew, seem extraneous, like so much padding that slows down and otherwise interrupts the flow of the show.
To a lesser degree, so do periodic musical interludes, the best of which feature solo vocalists Je Nie Fleming and Laurie Williamson (under the music direction of Michael Fauss, leading a three-piece band).
De Vries strikes a suitably “gloomy visage” throughout, but his performance doesn’t truly come into its own until the end, in his delightfully animated portrayal of Scrooge’s newfound humanity. Returning co-stars Bart Hansard (boisterous as both Mr. Fezziwig and the Ghost of Christmas Present), Elizabeth Wells (a radiant Ghost of Christmas Past) and Neal Ghant (refreshingly winsome as Bob Cratchit) stand out in the supporting ensemble.
The large cast also includes several adorable children, a few of whom are more successful than others in projecting their voices. Newcott only uses body mics on those actors playing the ghosts (to reverberating, echoing effect), although most of Andrew Benator’s dialogue (as Jacob Marley’s ghost) was overly garbled and distorted on opening night.
D. Martyn Brookwalter’s set design is massive, but it squanders too much space. Fixed piles of furniture and other props clutter both sides of the stage, room that Newcott could have accessed to better distinguish between the story’s alternating times and places, between Scrooge’s reality and his “shadows of the past.”
The special effects frequently dazzle — different characters rise from beneath the stage, appear to levitate across it or are whisked up and away from it on wires, and the smoke machines get quite a workout — but the sheer grandeur of the show somehow overwhelms its simple message.
About the Author
