'Tis the season* for
A Christmas Carol.
The Guthrie is in their 50th year of producing Charles Dickens' classic story of redemption, forgiveness, generosity, and kindness, and you can find many other iterations on various stages and screens. Lakeshore Players Theatre is throwing their hat in the ring too with a new original adaptation by the director Kivan Kirk. I love this story, so I was eager to experience a new version of it out here in the 'burbs. This lovely show is still the classic story we know, but from a fresh perspective, and full of heart and humor.
A Christmas Carol is the first show in Lakeshore's
four-show 72nd season and performances are already selling out for this crowd-pleaser,
continuing through December 17.
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Scrooge (John Burton Smith) with his newfound family
(photo by Sobottka Photography) |
Director/adaptor Kivan Kirk has applied the novel approach of telling the story through the eyes (and voice) of Scrooge's nephew Fred. The supporting character appears in a couple of pivotal scenes in the story, and represents the family connection that Scrooge is missing in his life, particularly his beloved sister Fan, who died years ago. This play begins with Fred telling his favorite story to his wife and friends at a party, the one about his Uncle Scrooge. As he tells the story, he picks up a lantern and walks into the scenes as they begin to play out, always observing, sometimes partaking in the action. It's an interesting device that works well, and gives us a single narrator speaking Dickens' beloved text. We're brought full circle at the end of the story, when Fred returns home just in time to welcome the now essential part of his family, Uncle Scrooge, post-transformation, keeping Christmas well.
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| Christmas with the Cratchits (photo by Sobottka Photography) |
Part of the reason why this approach works is that our Fred, Christopher Kent, is a genial and engaging guide through the story, displaying as much wonder and delight as Scrooge in his journey. John Burton Smith makes a fine Scrooge, from grumpy to curious to delightfully reformed. The ghost story element comes through loud and scarily clear, from Justin Hooper (a scenic designer who has worked at Yellow Tree, Lyric Arts, and other stages around) as a zombie-like Marley, to Malea Hanson's Christmas Past as a graceful but eerie fairy in ghostly white makeup, to Katlyn Moser's good-hearted Christmas Present, to Dan Brabec's tall and spooky Christmas Future. Other highlights in this large and talented cast include James Lane as family man Cratchit, Parker Payne as an earnest Young Scrooge, and Mackenzie Kroll as his lost love Belle (the latter two doubling as Fred's friends at the party). There are several parent/child pairs in the cast, making this a true family affair, and all of the two dozen or so actors on stage (children and adults) are into the spirit of the play and really make this a full and colorful world.
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| the Fezziwig party (photos by Sobottka Photography) |
Upon first glance, the set looks stark and modern, not like Victorian England. But the nested white proscenium arches, and white block furniture, serve as a blank canvas for projections of scenes both indoors and outdoors. This allows scenes to be warm or spooky as needed, intimate or expansive. The costume design includes beautiful period dresses and suits, as well as fun ghost costumes. (Scenic design by Justin Hooper, projection design by Justin Hooper and Dusty Langeberg, costume design by Meghan Kent.)
I'm so familiar with the Guthrie's version of A Christmas Carol that I forgot about some of the scenes from the story that don't appear in their current adaptation. It's fun to experience the story more fully, and although the production could be tightened up and trimmed just a bit, it's on the whole quite successful. And most importantly leaves you with a warm glow to carry out into the cold winter, thanks to Dickens' timeless message of our shared humanity.
**If you go, note that there's a new stoplight at the corner of 61 and 8th Street where you turn to get to the theater.
